Rishabh Pant is on track to break all of Adam Gilchrist’s batting records

Of Indian Test wicketkeepers, Budhi Kunderan and Farokh Engineer were considered the best batters until MS Dhoni usurped that title. Dhoni had six Test hundreds – four clear of other Indians at that point – and averaged 38.09. His successor Wriddhiman Saha had three, but as a keeper, he averaged a shade below 30.

However, even in his early days, Rishabh Pant made it amply clear that – unless he drastically lost form – he was going to raise that bar to unprecedented heights in Indian cricket. He broke into the XI and kept (if you mind the pun) Saha out until the latter retired.

The decision to back Pant over Saha, the superior gloveman, came roughly at the same time India began to commit to playing five bowlers in SENA conditions. Since they were leaving out a batter for a bowler, they needed Pant’s batting over Saha’s.

Pant had a hundred at The Oval in his debut series in 2018. In Australia later that year, he batted seven times and reached 25 every time, a run that culminated in a big hundred at Sydney.

There was no hundred in Australia 2020/21, but his 97 at Sydney and 89 not out at Brisbane are part of Indian cricket’s folklore. A year later, he hit an astonishing 100 not out at Cape Town – only 40 runs (including extras) came at the other end – but India’s defeat pushed that out of memory. Just as forgotten was the 111-ball 146 at Edgbaston in 2022.

Most of these innings, if not every single one, can rank among the greatest ever in Indian Test cricket. If the greatest Test innings by Indian wicketkeepers is chronicled, Pant may feature six or seven times in the top ten.

Pant also has the most Test hundreds among all Indian wicketkeepers. When he surpassed Dhoni at Headingley 2025, Pant had played only 44 Tests, fewer than half of Dhoni’s tally of 90. He also averages more than 43 at the time of writing, between the second and third days of the Headingley Test.

But that is Indian cricket: can Pant finish as the greatest batter among all Test wicketkeepers?

Can Pant surpass Gilchrist?

Pant has 3,082 Test runs at 43.41. With a 2,000-run cut-off, only three men have averaged more than him while starting a Test match as designated wicketkeeper: AB de Villiers (57.41), Andy Flower (53.70), and Adam Gilchrist (47.60), though Les Ames also averaged 43.40.

For the record, Kumar Sangakkara averaged 40.48 and Alec Stewart 34.92 in these roles (while playing as specialist batters, Sangakkara averaged 66.78 and Stewart 46.40). There may be a time when Pant – who has survived a horrific accident – may relinquish the big gloves to prolong his Test career (and boost his batting), but for now, he is doing fine.

Raise the bar to 3,000 runs and you are left with only Gilchrist (5,570) and Flower (4,404) above Pant. These are two batters who had vastly different careers when it comes to batting styles and support from the rest of the team.

The Gilchrist versus Flower debate is best left to another day. This exercise is to see how realistic it is to expect Pant to surpass Gilchrist’s tallies of 5,570 runs, 17 hundreds, and 43 fifty-plus scores, all of which are Test match records.

Gilchrist v Pant, Tests played as wicketkeeper

All numbers updated until stumps, second day, Headingley Test of 2025

Pant scores more runs per Test than Gilchrist did. They hit fifties at roughly comparable rates, but Gilchrist was more prolific at reaching three figures. However, Gilchrist reached 90 twenty times and converted 17 of them to hundreds; for Pant, the conversion rate stands at fifty per cent.

To overtake Gilchrist, Pant needs...

Scoring rates are not linear throughout a cricketer’s career. Pant may do better or fare worse than he has done until now. If he does continue to score at exactly the same rate, Pant will need 36 Test matches to overtake Gilchrist’s tally of 5,570 Test runs. The record for most fifty-plus scores will take longer – 44 Tests.

But the hundreds table is a more arduous climb. As we have seen, Pant’s rate of 6.3 Tests a hundred is behind Gilchrist’s 5.6. To overtake Gilchrist’s tally of 17 hundreds, Pant needs another 69 Tests.

However, Pant can get there quicker if he converts his nineties more often. But what if he converts 85 per cent of his nineties to hundreds a la Gilchrist? If he does that, he will need to reach ninety 13 times for 11 hundreds. If he keeps reaching ninety every 3.1 Tests, he may get 13 nineties (and 11 hundreds) in only 41 Tests.

India will play 18 Test matches in the 2025-2027 World Test Championship cycle. If they do the same in 2027-2029, Pant is likely to go past Gilchrist’s runs tally by then. The record for most hundreds, however, may take four cycles if his ninety-to-hundred conversion rate does not change. If it does rise to 85 per cent, he should overtake Gilchrist during the 2029-2031 cycle.

All this, of course, assumes that Pant will not only play every Test match – Gilchrist never missed a Test in his career – but also start every game as a wicketkeeper.

Remember, Pant is not even 28

As mentioned, the rate of scoring throughout one’s career is never linear. Batters change with age. Some improve. Some do not.

However, Pant already has the most runs (3,082) and hundreds (7) among wicketkeepers before turning 28. Quinton de Kock (26) had more fifty-plus scores, but had only five hundreds – and Pant will have a few Tests before his next birthday. It must be remembered that the car crash took a year and a half off Pant’s career.

What about Gilchrist? In his early days for New South Wales, Gilchrist had to play as a specialist batter as Phil Emery kept wicket. He moved to Western Australia, where fans were unhappy about him replacing local hero Tim Zoehrer. He first played a first-class match for Australia A at 26: by then, Pant had hundreds in four different countries.

Gilchrist made his Test debut nine days before his 28th birthday. He was older than today’s Pant. A post-28 Gilchrist was, thus, incomparably superior to his pre-28 version. Who is to say that it will not be the same for Pant?

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