Pant smashed Jofra Archer over the midwicket boundary to equal Virender Sehwag's record of 91 sixes -- the most by an Indian batter in Tests.
India's flamboyant wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant battled a broken foot and immense pain to slam a fifty against England on Day 2 of the fourth Test in Manchester on Thursday.
Pant, who was stretchered off the field after suffering a toe fracture while batting on Wednesday, returned to the crease on Day 3 and added 17 more runs to his tally.
He smashed Jofra Archer over the midwicket boundary to equal Virender Sehwag's record of 91 sixes -- the most by an Indian batter in Tests.
In the next over, he elegantly punched a fullish delivery from England captain Ben Stokes through covers for a boundary and completed a fighting half-century.
Pant, known for his fearless strokeplay, is now tied at the top with Sehwag, while ODI skipper Rohit Sharma sits second with 88 sixes. Former captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has 78 while star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has 74 Test sixes under his belt.
Pant also leapfrogged Rohit to become India's leading run-scorer in the World Test Championship (WTC) era. The southpaw now has 2,731 runs from 38 Tests, which includes six centuries and sixteen fifties. Rohit, who retired from Tests before the England tour, tallied 2,719 WTC runs.
Pant now has 14 fifty-plus scores in Tests, while Dhoni has thirteen fifties. The 27-year-old southpaw has six hundreds and eight fifties in the longest format.
Pant's 75-ball 54 in the first innings on Thursday was laced with three boundaries and two maximums.
The BCCI has confirmed earlier that Rishabh Pant will not keep wickets for the remainder of the Manchester Test, but he would be available to bat if required.