Rishabh Pant has taken over the mantle of wicket keeping from Mahendra Singh Dhoni and he on Tuesday, surpassed the great to add one more milestone to his name in Test cricket.
Pant during West Indies's second innings of the second Test, became the fastest Indian keeper to take 50 catches in Test cricket. The Delhi wicketkeeper-batsman took just 11 Tests to reach the milestone while Dhoni reached there in 15 Test matches.
Pant achieved the feat when he caught Kraigg Brathwaite's catch from a Ishant Sharma delivery. Brathwaite looked to play a drive outside off and nicked it behind Pant, who completed an easy catch.
Brathwaite's wicket was the first of the two to fall as Windies finished day three on 45/2 and still need 423 runs to level the two-match series 1-1.
Earlier, Hanuma Vihari and Ajinkya Rahane took India closer to a series sweep with an unbeaten 111-run stand, helping the visitors set an improbable 468-run target for the West Indies on day three of the second Test.
The in-form Rahane (64 not out) and Vihari (53 not out) got India's second innings back on track after the top-four were dismissed for 57 runs. The fifth-wicket partnership allowed India to declare at 157 for four, giving their bowlers 13 overs to have a crack on the struggling West Indies batsmen.
Interestingly, India had decided against enforcing the follow-on despite gaining a 299-run lead by bowling out the West Indies for 117 an hour into the morning session.
The Virat Kohli-led side struggled against top-quality fast bowling from the West Indies and laboured to 73 for four in 37 overs at tea. However, the momentum was back with India in the final session where Rahane and Vihari extended their good run in the series.
(With inputs from PTI)
