Rishabh Pant reaches career-high 7th in ICC Test rankings
India's swashbuckling wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant reached a career-high seventh in the latest ICC Test rankings for batters on Wednesday (June 25, 2025), following his twin centuries in the series-opener against England in Leeds.
India's new Test captain Shubman Gill jumped five rungs to 20th overall following his century in the first innings of the match that his team lost by five wickets despite setting England a stiff target of 371.
Pant, who became only the second wicketkeeper to hit two hundreds in the same match during the first Test of the five-match series, climbed one spot in the list.
Before the 27-year-old Pant joined him, Zimbabwe's Andy Flower remained the sole stumper with two centuries in the same Test match.
Pant struck 134 and 118 in the thrilling Leeds Test that England won by five wickets.
There was little change in the rankings for Test bowlers, with India's pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah maintaining his place at the top of the charts following yet another five-wicket haul in the Headingley Test.
Meanwhile, Ben Duckett, who was adjudged Player of the Match for his scores of 62 and 149 in England's victory, jumped five places to eighth in the rankings.
Duckett's teammates Ollie Pope (up three spots to 19th) and Jamie Smith (up eight places to 27th) also made significant gains.
England veteran Joe Root remained the No.1 ranked Test batter, with teammate Harry Brook his closest challenger.
England skipper Ben Stokes gained three places to move up to fifth in the list for Test all-rounders following solid contributions with both bat and ball across the same game.
The drawn first Test between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh saw a host of their players make some inroads in the latest batters' rankings. Mushfiqur Rahim led the way, following his innings of 163 in Galle.
Rahim gained 11 spots to move to 28th for Test batters, while teammate Najmul Hossain Shanto jumped a whopping 21 places to improve to 29th on the same list after he scored a pair of tonnes in the same match.
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Hindustan Times
2 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Gautam Gambhir asked to pull Rishabh Pant aside: 'Your lower-order can't contribute, the next time you're at 130...'
India wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant had a match to remember as he scored twin centuries in the Headingley Test against England. However, his effort went in vain as England chased down 371 to gain a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. The southpaw is now just the second wicketkeeper-batter after Zimbabwe's Andy Flower to score tons in both innings of a single Test. Rishabh Pant urged to think about 'lower order contribution' when he comes out to bat next. (@BCCI X) Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin reckons Rishabh Pant now needs to think about the lack of performance from the lower order and not throw away his wicket. In the Headingley Test, Pant recorded scores of 134 and 118. Pant is now just the seventh Indian to score twin centuries in a single Test, and he joins the likes of Sunil Gavaskar and Virat Kohli in an elite list. He has also gone past MS Dhoni in scoring the most centuries by an Indian wicketkeeper in Tests. In both innings, India had a chance to put the game to rest. However, a lower-order collapse paved the way for England to stage a comeback. In the first innings, the last seven wickets fell for 41 runs, while the last six wickets in the second session fell for 31 runs for India. In the first innings, India went from 430/3 to 471 all out, while in the second innings, India were bundled out for 364 despite being 333/4 at one stage. 'Rishabh Pant scored twin hundreds; he joins an elite list of batters. Vijay Hazare, Sunil Gavaskar and Virat Kohli are all in the list, and Rishabh Pant has now joined them. Rishabh Pant now has the highest number of centuries as an Indian wicketkeeper-batter,' Ashwin said on his YouTube channel 'Ash Ki Baat'. Also Read: 'Rishabh, keep scoring runs or they'll throw you out': Gambhir's 'ridiculous' act in press conference slammed 'Rishabh had a fantastic game, but I would like to repeat that he has a great defence. There is not even one shot in the book that he cannot play,' he added. 'What a talented player Rishabh Pant is': Ashwin Ashwin also stated that if he were in Gautam Gambhir's position, he would pull Pant aside and speak to him about the rising need for him to score double hundreds, as the lower order is not contributing much. 'I sometimes feel if I was Gautam Gambhir, I would take him aside and tell him, 'you played exceptionally well and I would have loved to be the batter with the ability that you have' but can I request you to make a double hundred next time when you are batting at 130 because you know the lower-order cannot contribute much. That would be the only request I would make of Rishabh. What a talented player,' said Ashwin. The former India spinner, who retired from international cricket in December 2024, said that Pant should also not be compared with MS Dhoni, as the latter never batted at No.5, as he was more of a keeper-batter. 'Comparing MS Dhoni and Rishabh Pant is not fair. MS Dhoni never batted at No.5. MS Dhoni was a keeper-batter, and I would say Pant is a batter-keeper. There are a lot of differences in that,' said Ashwin. 'Rishabh Pant should be compared with the likes of Virat Kohli. He is a main batter. The time and skill Pant has, when he is batting, look at the time he has against the pacers,' he added.
Mint
2 hours ago
- Mint
Rishabh Pant somersaults his way back into brands' hearts
NEW DELHI : Brands are lining up to sign Rishabh Pant after his historic twin centuries in the first India-England Test at Headingley. The 27-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman became the first Indian to score centuries in both innings of a Test in England, and is now poised to nearly double his brand portfolio by the end of the year. He started the year with 18 endorsement contracts. His brand value has seen an estimated 70-75% surge from the pre-injury days. He now commands ₹2.5 crore for a single-day ad shoot and around ₹4.5-4.75 crore for a two-day engagement, according to advertising industry insiders. Pant returned to competitive cricket with the Indian Premier League (IPL) in March 2024 after an over-year-long hiatus due to a car accident in December 2022. For context, top Indian cricketers like Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma charge ₹3.5-4.5 crore for one-day and ₹7 crore for two-day endorsement schedules per year. But "as Virat Kohli nears the twilight of his career, there's room opening up for a new set of endorsable stars—and Pant is right up there," said Harsh Talikoti, director at Houlihan Lokey, an NYSE-listed investment bank that values some large-scale sports and entertainment properties such as the IPL. 'He's in that bracket with players like current test captain Shubman Gill and wicketkeeper-batsman K.L. Rahul in terms of their marketability," he added. Talikoti also noted Pant's small-town roots, much like India's former captain M.S. Dhoni, work in his favour. "And the fact that he hasn't changed himself too much, staying grounded, makes him connect deeply with aspirational audiences," he added. Pant's portfolio is currently skewed toward Tier-II and III markets. However, his strong comeback could help him expand to youth and urban-focused brands, mirroring Dhoni's path. For brands, Gill speaks more to a Gen Z metro city audience. While he remains a favourite for home appliances, steel pipes, and fantasy sports, gaming and Gen Z lifestyle brands are also showing an interest in his renewed relevance and mass-market appeal. Pant endorses Adidas, Dream11, JSW Steel, Noise, and Boat, among other brands. The comeback kid His comeback with the Lucknow Super Giants' ₹27 crore bid—the highest ever in IPL history at the 2025 auctions—sparked a frenzy across the cricketing world. However, he struggled to live up to the hype, delivering a lone performance that justified his price tag: a century against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in his final match of the season. This week, he followed that up with twin centuries against England, becoming only the second wicketkeeper in Test history after Zimbabwe's Andy Flower to achieve the feat. His elevation to India's vice-captaincy for the England Tour 2025 has further positioned him as a long-term bet for selectors and sponsors alike, according to agents. Pant's portfolio has grown over 100% since June 2023, when he had 12 endorsements, according to Indranil Das Blah of AMP Sports & Entertainment, who jointly manages Pant with OneByTwo Entertainment's Anant Arora. He now has 26 brands, most of which he signed this year, and is in advanced talks with four gaming and consumer companies. If all goes well, he is likely to end the year with a brand portfolio of 30 brands. The new categories could range from TMT bars and steel pipes to home appliances and gaming platforms. 'A lot of these are traditional cricket advertisers—brands that have done in-stadia signage or partnered with cricket for a long time will want him. We'll also be announcing a couple of deals with Gen Z brands in the gaming and digital space soon," Blah added. Pant, according to Blah, has been careful about his brand fit, prioritising his personal image—being relatable and quirky on the field, especially on the stump mic, where his humorous comments go viral on social media. 'That ticks a lot of boxes for a lot of brands. He's always been an A-lister, like some of the big Bollywood stars who, irrespective of giving hits or not, are still superstars." Blah, not worried about Pant's performance fluctuations, said they aren't materially impacting his brand value. 'A slump of over a year might, but that's not the case here. Pant's quirky and offbeat personality is a commercial plus as it matches his high-performance, quirky communication style." A case in point is Goibibo's creative re-use of Sunil Gavaskar's viral 'Stupid, stupid, stupid" commentary against Pant's poor shot selection during the Melbourne Test of 2024-25 Border-Gavaskar Trophy as a humorous reminder not to miss travel deals. 'Gen Z travellers are risk-takers in some sense and can take unplanned vacations," said Raj Rishi Singh, chief marketing and business officer at MakeMyTrip, which owns Goibibo. 'So he, in a way, is someone young people can relate with… he has that energy and fits the brand's ethos to the tee. In every sport, ups and downs are inevitable. We are happy that he's back in action," he said. On Wednesday, Pant gained a new career-best rating by improving one spot to move to seventh in the ICC Men's Test Batter Rankings. Earlier this year, he was elevated to Grade A from B in the BCCI's 2024-25 central contracts, entitling him to an annual retainership of ₹5 crore.
The Hindu
5 hours ago
- The Hindu
Rishabh Pant reaches career-high 7th in ICC Test rankings
India's swashbuckling wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant reached a career-high seventh in the latest ICC Test rankings for batters on Wednesday (June 25, 2025), following his twin centuries in the series-opener against England in Leeds. India's new Test captain Shubman Gill jumped five rungs to 20th overall following his century in the first innings of the match that his team lost by five wickets despite setting England a stiff target of 371. Pant, who became only the second wicketkeeper to hit two hundreds in the same match during the first Test of the five-match series, climbed one spot in the list. Before the 27-year-old Pant joined him, Zimbabwe's Andy Flower remained the sole stumper with two centuries in the same Test match. Pant struck 134 and 118 in the thrilling Leeds Test that England won by five wickets. There was little change in the rankings for Test bowlers, with India's pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah maintaining his place at the top of the charts following yet another five-wicket haul in the Headingley Test. Meanwhile, Ben Duckett, who was adjudged Player of the Match for his scores of 62 and 149 in England's victory, jumped five places to eighth in the rankings. Duckett's teammates Ollie Pope (up three spots to 19th) and Jamie Smith (up eight places to 27th) also made significant gains. England veteran Joe Root remained the No.1 ranked Test batter, with teammate Harry Brook his closest challenger. England skipper Ben Stokes gained three places to move up to fifth in the list for Test all-rounders following solid contributions with both bat and ball across the same game. The drawn first Test between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh saw a host of their players make some inroads in the latest batters' rankings. Mushfiqur Rahim led the way, following his innings of 163 in Galle. Rahim gained 11 spots to move to 28th for Test batters, while teammate Najmul Hossain Shanto jumped a whopping 21 places to improve to 29th on the same list after he scored a pair of tonnes in the same match.
