IND vs NZ: Rishabh Pant in action on Saturday. (Sportzpics)
Rishabh Pant missed out on his seventh Test hundred for India when he fell on 99 during the first Test against New Zealand at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Saturday.
Batting in India’s second-innings comeback after being skittled for 46, their lowest Test score, Pant walked in at No. 5 on day four and partnered centurion Sarfaraz Khan. The southpaw was a run away from his hundred before being cleaned up by Will O’Rourke off an inside-edge. Pant’s innings lasted 105 balls with nine fours and five sixes.
Pant is the second Indian wicket-keeper after MS Dhoni to be dismissed on 99 in a Test. He has been dismissed seven times in the nineties in Tests, only second to Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid among Indians.
FOLLOW IND VS NZ LIVE SCORE DAY 4
Pant was eyeing his second hundred in three Tests since his comeback after a long injury layoff after the fateful car accident in December 2022. In only his second innings since his return last month, Pant cracked his sixth century against Bangladesh in Chennai.
Pant was returning to play on day four after being absent from the field for the entirety of Day 3.
Pant suffered a knock on his knee while wicket-keeping on Day 2 on Thursday. The 27-year-old missed a stumping chance against Devon Conway off Ravindra Jadeja’s bowling and got hit on the knee after he failed to collect the ball. He went off the field immediately and was replaced by Dhruv Jurel for the remainder of the day.
Most Test nineties (by Indians)
10 = Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid
7 – Rishabh Pant
Indians to be out on 99 and 199 in Tests
| Player | Runs | Balls | 4s | 6s | Opposition | Ground | Match Date |
| P Roy | 99 | – | – | – | v Australia | Delhi | 12 Dec 1959 |
| ML Jaisimha | 99 | – | 12 | – | v Pakistan | Kanpur | 16 Dec 1960 |
| AL Wadekar | 99 | 146 | 12 | – | v Australia | Melbourne | 30 Dec 1967 |
| RF Surti | 99 | – | – | – | v New Zealand | Auckland | 07 Mar 1968 |
| M Azharuddin | 199 | – | 16 | 1 | v Sri Lanka | Kanpur | 17 Dec 1986 |
| NS Sidhu | 99 | 228 | 9 | 2 | v Sri Lanka | Bengaluru | 26 Jan 1994 |
| SC Ganguly | 99 | 188 | 13 | – | v Sri Lanka | Nagpur | 26 Nov 1997 |
| SC Ganguly | 99 | 159 | 13 | – | v England | Nottingham | 08 Aug 2002 |
| V Sehwag | 99 | 101 | 15 | – | v Sri Lanka | Colombo (SSC) | 26 Jul 2010 |
| MS Dhoni | 99 | 246 | 8 | 1 | v England | Nagpur | 13 Dec 2012 |
| M Vijay | 99 | 234 | 10 | 2 | v Australia | Adelaide | 09 Dec 2014 |
| KL Rahul | 199 | 311 | 16 | 3 | v England | Chennai | 16 Dec 2016 |
| Rishabh Pant | 99 | 105 | 9 | 5 | v New Zealand | Bengaluru | 19 Oct 2024 |
