Rishabh Pant and Shubman Gill surpassed fellow senior batter Virat Kohli for most Test runs among Indians in the 2024-25 season during India’s third and final Test against New Zealand in Mumbai on Saturday. At the time of writing this article, Pant stands second with 358 runs (nine innings) while Gill is a spot below at 307 runs (seven innings). Yashasvi Jaiswal tops the list with 374 runs from nine innings.
Kohli, who is going through a rough patch in Tests recently, is placed fifth with 191 runs from nine innings. India all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja is just a spot above Kohli with 193 runs.
Meanwhile, it was Pant’s (60) blitz and Gill’s resolute (90) innings that propelled India’s counterattack on the second morning as the hosts raced to 195/5 at lunch, trailing New Zealand by another 40 runs in the first innings.
Having ceded control to New Zealand in final minutes of the opening day’s play with an embarrassing collapse, India showed better resolve to make a speedy recovery while knocking off a significant chunk of the first-innings deficit.
Pant's quickfire 60, laced with eight fours and two sixes, was instrumental in taking the advantage away from the Kiwis who were gifted three unexpected wickets by the Indians in the last day’s session with batting mainstays Kohli (4) and Jaiswal (30) committing harakiri.
Pant and Gill, entrusted with the job to control the damage on day two, took an aggressive route as they tore through the Kiwi bowling attack to plunder 77 runs in 14 overs in the first hour, putting on an overall 96 runs for the fifth wicket off only 114 deliveries.
If Pant was more belligerent of the two, Gill showed remarkable improvement in his defence against spinners while the two young Indians were also favoured by luck for being brave in their endeavour with some ordinary fielding by New Zealand.
In the 26th over, Gill charged against Glenn Phillips' first ball of the day only to sky the ball towards long-on and despite having covered the distance, substitute fielder Mark Chapman spilled what would have been a regulation catch.
Gill was on 30 when Pant had joined him on the first day evening with India’s backs pressed firmly against the wall, in the 19th over of the innings. In the 30th, both the batters brought up their respective half-centuries.
Like Gill, Pant too was provided with a reprieve off Phillips when Matt Henry (1/26) spilled another regulation catch at long-off. Pant had made his intentions clear in the first over when he smashed three fours off Ajaz Patel.
The Indian wicketkeeper-batter’s charge, however, came to an end half an hour before lunch when Ish Sodhi forced Pant on the backfoot with one that turned sharply in. The umpire’s on-field call of leg-before against Pant stayed as replays showed the ball would’ve clipped the leg-stump when India reviewed.
With PTI Inputs
