Rishabh Pant scored a counter-attacking 146 off 111 balls to help India post 338 for seven against England on Day 1 of the ongoing fifth Test at Edgbaston in Birmingham.
When Pant and Jadeja came to the rescue with 222 runs for the sixth wicket, India was at 98 for five. While Pant was eventually bowled by Joe Root, Jadeja was unbeaten on 83 before stumps were called on Day 1.
Earlier, after England captain Ben Stokes won the toss and chose to bowl, James Anderson and Matthew Potts kept India under pressure by claiming three and two wickets, respectively.
For the game, Jadeja was selected ahead of Ravichandran Ashwin.
In the absence of Rohit Sharma, Cheteshwar Pujara opened the batting for India but made only 13 runs before succumbing to James Anderson.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli continued his bad form, scoring 11 runs before falling to Matty Potts. Notably, Jasprit Bumrah captains the Indian team after Rohit Sharma tested positive for COVID-19 for the second time on Thursday.
England is on a roll, having recently defeated New Zealand 3-0 by playing an exciting brand of cricket under Ben Stokes!
Where this test match takes us is going to be utterly spectacular. And so far, Day 1 has lived up to the hype!
Rishabh Pant shatters MS Dhoni’s 17-year long record
Pant hit his century on the 89th delivery of his innings, continuing his excellent success in the game’s longest format!
Pant has scored 50+ runs in each of his past four Tests; in the current Test in Edgbaston, Pant stabilised the Indian innings following a flurry of wickets in the first two sessions as mentioned earlier.
Pant hit 15 fours and one six during an entertaining innings at Edgbaston, reaching three figures in the 58th over. Pant’s third Test century against England; his first against the team came in only his third Test match at The Oval in 2018.
Pant broke the three-figure mark against England in Ahmedabad last year, scoring 101 off 118 deliveries!
But with this knock, Pant beat MS Dhoni’s 17-year-old record for the fastest century by an Indian wicketkeeper-batter.
Dhoni accomplished the feat in 2005 during a Test against Pakistan, when he hit the century mark in 93 deliveries.
Pant also became the first wicketkeeper-batter in English history to score two centuries. This is his fourth Test century outside of Asia; the other Indian wicketkeeper-batters have three each.
