IND vs ENG: Pant chases history at Lord’s as Sehwag’s long-standing record on cusp of being broken

Rishabh Pant goes into a Test match, breaks a few records, makes headlines and returns to the pavilion. It's his pattern in red-ball cricket, and after doing all of the above in this series thus far, he is raring to go for it again in the third Test against England at Lord’s starting Thursday (Jul 10). Pant scored two hundreds in the Leeds Test, breaking multiple records with each ton. Come the third match, he is on the cusp of creating history for Team India; the left-handed batter has Virender Sehwag’s long-standing Test record in sight.

Pant loves smashing sixes, and he hits them for fun, the way Sehwag and former India captain Rohit Sharma used to do it. Having already surpassed Rohit’s tally of 56 sixes in the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) cycle to sit at the second spot (just behind Stokes), Pant is in touching distance of breaking Sehwag’s record of most sixes hit by an Indian in Test cricket.

The swashbuckling Indian opener has hit 91 sixes in Tests - the most by an Indian and the seventh-most in Test history. Though Rohit is behind him with 88 sixes to his name, Pant is currently sitting at 86, needing three more to surpass Rohit and six to break Sehwag’s record.

Stokes, however, continues to lead the chart with 133 sixes and counting to his name. The second-place belongs to England head coach, Brendon McCullum, who hit 107 sixes in 101 Tests played. While former Aussie gloveman Adam Gilchrist sits in the third place with 100 sixes hit in this format, the fourth spot belongs to a fast bowler (Tim Southee - 98 sixes) in a surprise revelation. Chris Gayle (98) and Jacques Kallis (97) are next in line.

Pant leads race

Although he is third (342) on the list of batters with the most runs hit in this series thus far after Shubman Gill (585) and Jamie Smith (356), Pant leads the six-hitting chart in two contested matches. Having whacked 13 sixes across the past four innings in this England series, he leads Gill (12) and Smith (11).

He, however, is placed third on the list of batters to hit the most boundaries in two matches so far, with 36 fours, the same as fourth-placed KL Rahul. Gill is at the top, having found gaps 63 times.

Meanwhile, the five-match series is tied at 1-1, with the third at the Lord’s to decide which team will take a lead going forward.