Top 5 great Test debuts in 2018

4) Rishabh Pant/ Ben Foakes

Two debutant wicketkeeping-batsmen who shined brightly this year were India's Rishabh Pant and England's Ben Foakes. Two very different sorts of player in attitude and approach towards the game, but both of them have shown great promise.

Rishabh Pant came into the Test arena after a horrible batting display from Dinesh Karthik in England in the first two Tests. Naturally, an aggressive player Rishabh Pant scored a belligerent century(114) at the Oval against England in the fifth Test match. He also became the first Indian wicketkeeper to score a Test ton in overseas conditions.

Pant proved his mettle both as a wicketkeeper and as a batsman in 2018. He recently took a world record 11 catches in a match at Adelaide Oval and has equalled legendary Syed Kirmani's record of most no of catches in a Test series against Australia by taking 15 catches in two matches and with still two more matches to go.

He then missed out on centuries against the West Indies in home conditions but ended up scoring quick half-centuries.

Ben Foakes, at the same time, scored an invaluable century against Srilanka in his debut Test match at Galle, the first Test match of the series. He replaced Johnny Bairstow's who was injured at the time playing football.

When England looked in dire straits Ben Foakes came out and made a gritty Test ton of 107(202), one of the finest by an English batsman in subcontinent conditions. He followed it up with a quick half-century in the second Test at Pallekele.

He is surely a great find for England and there is no doubt he is going to add more pressure to Bairstow and Butler if they don't perform well in upcoming series'.