Rishabh Pant earned plaudits for a brave start to his Test career when he hit the second ball for a six at Trent Bridge, Nottinghamshire in his debut Test, but in his second Test, the 20-year-old is now the holder of an ignominious record for Indian with most balls faced without scoring.
Pant had a tough time during day two of the fourth India vs England Test at The Ageas Bowl, Southampton after he walked out to bat late in the second session after the fall of Ajinkya Rahane with India on 161 for four.
With Sam Curran and James Anderson operating in tandem, Pant failed to get off the mark and with just one over to negotiate before the tea break, the wicketkeeper batsman was trapped in front by off spinner Moeen Ali – who was brought back into the attack for the final over before tea.
Pant departed for a 29-ball duck, thus equalling the Indian record for most balls faced without scoring in Test cricket. Irfan Pathan was dismissed for 29-ball duck in 2005 against Pakistan at Bengaluru while Suresh Raina too was out to an exact same sequence against England at the Oval in 2011.
Player |
Runs |
Balls |
Opposition |
Year |
Irfan Pathan |
0 |
29 |
Pakistan |
2005 |
Suresh Raina |
0 |
29 |
England |
2011 |
Rishabh Pant |
0 |
29 |
England |
2018 |
Shivlal Yadav |
0* |
28 |
Australia |
1981 |
Munaf Patel |
0 |
28 |
West Indies |
2006 |
Overall, the record is held by New Zealand s Geoff Allott who played out 77 deliveries in the first Test of South Africa s tour of New Zealand in 1998-99.
Player |
Runs |
Balls |
Opposition |
Year |
Geoff Allott (NZ) |
0 |
77 |
South Africa |
1999 |
James Anderson (Eng) |
0 |
55 |
Sri Lanka |
2014 |
Richard Ellison (Eng) |
0 |
52 |
India |
1984 |
Peter Such (Eng) |
0 |
51 |
New Zealand |
1999 |
Paul Sheahan |
0 |
44 |
England |
1968 |