Sanjiv Goenka goes over the moon after Rishabh Pant's century as LSG boss calls own captain ‘future of Indian cricket’

Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) owner Sanjiv Goenka went over the moon with a special praise for Rishabh Pant after the India wicketkeeper's 134 against England in the ongoing first Test against England in Leeds. In a match which saw India playing without the likes of Virat Kohli an Rohit Sharma, Pant's hundred, along with those of Shubman Gill and Yashasvi Jaiswal, marks the beginning of a new era.

Not only the troika scored hundreds, but also put India in complete control of the Test match on Day 2. Goenka didn't forget to mention Jaiswal and Gill but gave a special nod to his captain (Pant is the captain of LSG) for the audacity shown by the Indian wicketkeeper batter to reach his three-figure mark with a six.

“Three’s a charm with brilliant centuries from@ybj_19, @ShubmanGill, and now@RishabhPant17. Rishabh reaching his ton with a six speaks volumes about the future of Indian cricket. A commanding start to the series. #INDvsENG,” Goenka wrote on X.

This was Pant's second consecutive hundred at top level cricket. His previous century came in the recently-concluded Indian Premier League (IPL) when he scored an unbeaten 118 against eventual winners Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB).

Rishabh Pant goes past MS Dhoni

With this hundred, Pant also went past former captain MS Dhoni for most hundreds by designated Indian wicketkeepers. While Pant has seven so far, Dhoni finished with six. It was his first century since September 2024 when he scored 109 against Bangladesh.

In 90 Tests, Dhoni had scored 4,876 runs with six tons and 33 fifties at an average of 38.09 and remains the highest run-scorer as an Indian wicketkeeper-batter in Tests.

Pant, who completed 3000 runs during this innings, also has 15 fifties in 44 Tests and averages nearly 44. The third in this list is Wriddhiman Saha with two centuries, followed by Syed Kirmani and Farokh Engineer with two each. Nayan Mongia has also scored one century.