Rishabh Pant Joins Ponting and Lara in Unwanted Club of Nervous Nineties Dismissals in Test Cricket – News18

Indian cricket fans at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium were eager to see Rishabh Pant get to his seventh Test century, but the Bengaluru crowd were heartbroken as the wicketkeeper-batter was dismissed at 99, leaving the crowd in a state of shock.

The 27-year-old was just one century short of surpassing the legendary MS Dhoni to become the Indian wicketkeeper with the most Test hundreds with a seventh ton, but it wasn’t meant to be.

As Pant was making his way back to the dugout, he was met with a loud round of applause by the many Indian supporters who were present at the stadium.

But getting out in the 90s is not something Pant hasn’t seen before. He is right up there with the greats of the game like Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid and Steve Waugh. Pant has been dismissed in the ‘nervous 90s’ six times in his Test career, the same as the likes of Brian Lara, Ricky Ponting, and Geoffrey Boycott among others.

The last time Pant was dismissed in the 90s was the 93 runs he scored against Bangladesh in Mirpur, 2022 which was his last Test after which he injured himself after being involved in a car accident which ruled him out of action for a considerable period of time.

Thanks to the brilliance of Pant and Sarfaraz Khan as the duo registered a 177-run partnership, the home side is back in the contest after a horrendous batting display in the first innings.

The Indian team have already registered an 82-run lead, with the final stretch of play for the penultimate day left, it will be on the hosts to maximise the time they have left so that the bowlers have enough time to force a result and possibly take home an unlikely win.