Stats: Rishabh Pant joins the rare list of players to get off the mark with a six in Test cricket

Rishabh Pant made his Test debut in the Nottingham Test replacing Dinesh Karthik who failed to impress with the bat and his keeping skills in the first two matches of the series. The 20-year-old came in with a reputation of being a big-hitter having put up quite a display of himself in the Indian Premier League (IPL). He exploits in Ranji Trophy and in the recent tour to England with India ‘A‘ earned the Delhi player his maiden Test call-up.

Pant, staying true to his reputation, got off the mark in Test cricket with a six off Adil Rashid on the 2nd ball he faced. Thus, he became the first Indian to open his account in Tests with a six and overall the 12th player to do so. He lofted the googly from the leg-spinner over the straight boundary. Pant is only the 3rd player to hit a six in this format as early as the 2nd ball of his career.

Australia’s Eric Freeman was the first known man in the list when he struck a huge six off Erapalli Prasanna on the very 2nd ball he faced in this format at the Gabba in 1968. Carlisle Best of West Indies got going in the longer format when he hooked Ian Botham for a six on the 3rd ball he faced in the 1986 Kingston Test. Zimbabwe’s Keith Dabengwa hit Daniel Vettori for a six to get off the mark that too after facing 15 balls in 2004 while West Indies’ Dale Richards achieved this feat in the first over of his team’s innings in his Test debut against Bangladesh in 2009.

Jahirul Islam, who bagged a 6-ball duck in the first innings on his Test debut, opened his account with a six off Graeme Swann in the 2nd innings. Al-Amin Hossain didn’t get a chance to get off the mark in the longer format on his Test debut but opened his account with sixes in both innings in the next game. New Zealand’s Mark Craig achieved a unique distinction of hitting the first ball he faced in Test cricket for a six which was coincidently the first ball he faced in International cricket as well.

Sri Lanka’s Dhananjaya de Silva, Bangladesh’s Kamrul Islam Rabbi and Sunil Ambris are the recent entries in the list. Kamrul Islam, the 4th Bangladesh player in the list scored his first runs in Test cricket on the 20th ball he faced after bagging three ducks in his first three innings. Ambris opened his account after getting out for a duck in the first innings on his debut via hit-wicket.

Players who opened their account with a Six in Test cricket:

(Stats as on August 18, 2018)

For all the latest cricket news and other updates follow CricTracker.