Brisbane: Rishabh Pant equalled MS Dhoni on the second day of the Gabba Test between India and Australia by taking the catch of Usman Khawaja. With the dismissal of the Australian opener, Pant completed 150 dismissals in Test cricket.
After Day 1 was marred by the consistent rain and only 13.2 overs were played, visitors had a good start as Jasprit Bumrah provided two early strikes. He removed both the Australian openers - Khawja and Nathan McSweeney. The scorecard was reduced to 38/2 as a result.
Bumrah bowled a delivery outside off to Khawaja in the 17th over and the Aussie batter nicked it towards Pant who grabbed the easy catch.
From 41 matches, Pant now has 135 catches as a wicketkeeper and 15 stumpings. Dhoni is at the top of the list amongst Indian wicketkeepers with 294 dismissals including 256 catches and 38 stumpings. Syed Kirmani is in the second position on the list with 198 dismissals which includes 160 catches and 38 stumpings. Pant is in third position and will be eyeing to surpass Kirmani soon.
Players
Matches
Dismissals
MS Dhoni
90
294
Syed Kirmani
88
198
Rishabh Pant
41
150*
Kiran More with 130 dismissals (110 catches and 20 stumpings) and Nayan Mongia with 107 dismissals (99 catches and 8 stumpings) make the top five. The swashbuckling batter is well known for his aggressive style of batting in Test cricket but Pant has shown his agility behind the stumps time and again in the past.
The series is levelled at 1-1 and a victory in the third Test is absolutely crucial for both the teams as the result can affect their chances to qualify for the World Test Championship (WTC) final. India, South Africa and Australia are in the hunt to qualify for the marquee final and it is India's last series before the fixture while Australia will play a couple of Tests against Pakistan. The fourth Test of the series will start on December 26.
