Rishabh

Pant

Rishabh Pant Biography and Career

A swashbuckling left-handed batsman in the mould of Adam Gilchrist, Rishabh Pant is only in his 20s, but his life has seen more twists and turns than most people can fathom in a lifetime. 

Born in Roorkee, Uttarakhand, Pant used to travel four hours every weekend with his mother to reach the famous Sonnet Cricket Club in Delhi where he used to train under the watchful eyes of Tarak Sinha. They used to stay at a Gurudwara in Moti Bagh as his mother did not have any other accommodation in the city. 

Right from a young age, Pant showed that he has what it takes to become a successful cricketer. But the competition in the Delhi circuit was too high and couple that with the internal politics, Sinha asked Pant to switch to Rajasthan for a better future. Pant played U-13 and U-15 cricket with Rajasthan, but was always considered an outsider and not given enough chances. He switched back to Delhi, a move that paid dividends. 

In 2016, Pant was selected to play the U-19 World Cup where he smashed the fastest fifty in the history of the tournament, off 18 balls against Nepal. He was first picked in the IPL in 2016 for Rs 1.9 crore by Delhi Daredevils on the same day he scored a century to take India to the Under-19 World Cup semi-final. Pant stayed there till IPL 2024 and is Delhi’s highest run-getter in the tournament. 

The year 2016 turned out to be a game changing one for Pant. He scored a triple century against Maharashtra in the Ranji Trophy that year and then followed it up with a 48-ball century against Jharkhand, the fastest in the tournament’s history. In 2017, Pant was handed the Delhi captaincy and in the next year, he scored a T20 century off 32 balls, the then second-fastest in the format. 

Pant made his T20I debut in 2017. At 19 years and 120 days, he was the youngest debutant for India in T20Is. He made his Test debut in 2018 and started his career with a six off the very first ball he faced. A slew of records followed across formats and Pant became India’s designated wicket-keeper batter across all three formats. 

Pant suffered a form slump in 2019-20 and was pushed down the pecking order with KL Rahul donning the keeping gloves several times. But the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy turned things around for Pant. He thrashed 97 off 118 balls in the third Sydney Test, but it was in Gabba where he became a superstar. With a number of first-choice players out injured, Pant played the innings of his life scoring 89 on the fifth day of the Test to give India an unlikely series win. 

In 2022, Pant was named vice-captain of the Indian side and led the team against South Africa after regular captain KL Rahul was out injured.  

The Accident

Everything seemed to be going right for Pant, but it all changed in a matter of minutes. On December 30, 2022, Pant was involved in a near fatal car accident on the Delhi-Dehradun highway. He was reportedly driving his Mercedes going from Delhi to his hometown of Roorkee when his car dashed into a divider on the highway and caught fire. A blood-soaked Pant was rescued from the wreckage by a bus driver and conductor. Pant was cleared of any brain damage, but sustained injuries to his hand, and leg and a ligament tear to his right knee. He missed close to a year and a half of professional cricket and underwent multiple operations to be fit for active duty.

Pant returned to playing cricket during the 2024 IPL where he captained Delhi and then made it to the squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup which India won for the first time after 17 years. 

Pant in the IPL

Bagging a deal with Delhi Daredevils (now Capitals) changed Pant’s career and fast-tracked him into the national setup. With the Capitals, Pant has played many defining innings. He was picked by the Delhi franchise in 2016 and has stayed with them since. Pant took a couple of editions to warm up but then had a bumper season in 2018 where he smashed 684 runs in 14 games at an average of 52.61 and a strike rate of 173.60. He has played only for the Delhi franchise and has more than 3000 runs for them, the most for any player. In 2021, Pant was named captain of the franchise when Shreyas Iyer was injured. In 2024, he returned and led the team again. 

In his first season in 2016, Pant scored 198 runs, then produced a 350+ season in the second before delivering a 600+ run season in 2018 where he hit boundaries for fun. Since then, he has hardly looked back and delivered big seasons one after the other. Barring the 2016 IPL, he has scored more than 300 runs in every season. 

In the IPL 2025 season, Pant was picked up for Rs 27 crore by Lucknow Super Giants and subsequently named captain. This is the highest bid for any player in the history of the league.

Beyond Cricket

Due to his swashbuckling style of cricket, Pant has garnered plenty of fans across the country and the world. Pant has an active presence on social media. On Instagram, he has 14.4 million followers while on X (formerly Twitter), he has 4.5 million followers. 

Pant also has a number of brand deals. He endorses brands such as BoAt, Adidas, JSW Steel, Realme, Dream11 and Cadbury. In 2025, Swiggy joined hands with Pant to co-own Mumbai pickle power, a pickleball team. 

According to reports, Pant is in a steady relationship with Isha Negi, an entrepreneur and interior designer from Delhi. 

Rishabh Pant Records 

Rishabh Pant Under-19 Records

• He was the vice-captain of the Indian Under-19 team which finished as the runner-up at the 2016 World Cup 
• Hit an 18-ball half-century against Nepal in the 2016 Under-19 World Cup, which is the fastest at that level

Rishabh Pant Domestic Records

• Pant holds the record for the fastest triple century in domestic cricket when he smashed 308 against Maharashtra in the 2016-17 Ranji Trophy
• He is the third youngest triple centurion for India in domestic cricket
• In 2016, Pant scored the fastest century in the history of Ranji Trophy, off just 48 balls against Jharkhand
• In 2018, Pant scored a century off 32 balls, which was the then second-fastest T20 century of all time

Rishabh Pant Test Records

• He is the second-youngest wicket-keeper and the first Indian wicket-keeper to score a Test century in England
• Pant holds the record for the most catches by a wicketkeeper for India in a Test match - 11 against Australia in December 2018 
• He is the first Indian wicketkeeper to score a century in Australia
• He is the fastest Indian wicket-keeper to reach 1000 Test runs
• Holds the record for the fastest fifty for an Indian batsman in Test cricket - off 28 balls 

Rishabh Pant T20I Records

• Pant was a member of the Indian side that won the T20 World Cup after 17 years in 2024
• At the time of his T20I debut, he was the youngest player to debut for India at 19 years and 120 days
• He is the second-youngest to captain India in a T20I match

Rishabh Pant IPL Records

• Most expensive buy in the history of IPL when he was picked for Rs 27 crore by Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL 2025 auction 
• During IPL 2018, Pant recorded an unbeaten 128 off 63 balls against Sunrisers Hyderabad, making it the then highest individual score by an Indian in the league's history 
• He also became the second youngest player to score an IPL hundred 
• Pant won the Emerging Player of the Season award in IPL 2018
• He finished the IPL 2018 season as the second highest run scorer with 684 runs
• He is the all-time highest run-scorer for Delhi Capitals in the IPL