Top 5 scores by Indian wicketkeepers in Test cricket

Rishabh Pant has only played eight Test matches for India but he already has several records to his name thanks to his two centuries.

His first century which came against England at the Oval in September 2018 made him the second-youngest wicketkeeper to score a Test century and also it was also the highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper in England surpassing the 92 by Mahendra Singh Dhoni at the same venue in 2007.

The 21-year-old scored his second century against Australia at the SCG in a swashbuckling manner and broke several other records belonging to wicketkeeper-batsman.

Pant’s 159* versus Australia was a record-breaking innings but it isn’t the highest by an Indian keeper in Test matches. However, it is good enough to make the list of top 5 scores by an Indian wicketkeeper in Test cricket.

Note: Vijay Manjrekar's 189* is not included in the list because he was an occasional keeper and he played that game as a batsman.

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#5 MS Dhoni - 148 vs Pakistan in Faisalabad, 2006

The 148 against Pakistan was Dhoni's first Test century

MS Dhoni has scored 148 versus Pakistan in a Test match and an ODI but the former is not as memorable as the latter because it came in a drawn Test.

In the second Test of India’s tour of Pakistan in 2005/06, the hosts scored 588 in the first innings with Shahid Afridi scoring 156 of 128 balls. In reply, India started well but from 2/236 the team collapsed to 5/281 with MS Dhoni and Irfan Pathan at the crease.

India needed another 107 runs to avoid follow-on but Dhoni did not let the pressure get to him. He played in his natural aggressive manner and reached his fifty in only 34 balls. He then reached his hundred in 93 balls.

By the time Dhoni was dismissed for 148, India amassed 491 runs. Thanks to Pathan’s 90 and contributions from the lower order, India scored 603 runs and surpassed Pakistan’s mammoth total.

#4 Nayan Mongia - 152 vs Australia in Delhi, 1996

This was Mongia's only international century

Nayan Mongia is one of three wicketkeepers on this list to record their highest individual score in Test cricket against Australia.

Mongia was not renowned for his batting and averaged just 24.03 in 68 innings. However, in 1996, when Australia visited India, Mongia scored his only international century in a one-off Test.

Batting first, the visitors were dismissed for only 182 runs which put India in a commanding position. Mongia opened with Vikram Rathour and while Rathour was dismissed for only five runs, Mongia formed a 131 run partnership for the second wicket with Sourav Ganguly who scored 66 runs.

After Ganguly was dismissed, the remaining Indian wickets fell at regular intervals but Mongia soldiered on and was only the ninth player to be dismissed. He scored his 152 in 366 balls while hitting 18 fours and one six.

Australia scored 234 runs in their second Innings and gave India target of 55 runs which the hosts achieved despite the loss of three wickets including both Mongia and Sachin Tendulkar for ducks.

Unsurprisingly, he was named the Man of the Match.

#3 Rishabh Pant - 159* vs Australia in Sydney, 2019

Pant became the first Indian keeper to score a century in Australia

Rishabh Pant’s historic century against Australia at the SCG is the third highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper in Test matches and if he was given more time, he may have climbed higher up the list. Such was the confidence and vigour with which he dismissed the Australian bowlers.

When Pant walked into bat, India was at 329/5 with the resilient Cheteshwar Pujara at the other end. Pant played in the aggressive manner best known to him and raced to 159 in only 189 balls while scoring 15 fours and one six.

His century was the first by an Indian wicketkeeper in Australia. Before Pant, the previous highest score was 89 by Farokh Engineer at Adelaide in 1967! The 21-year-old also broke MS Dhoni’s 12-year record of highest score by an Indian wicketkeeper in an overseas Test match.

In addition, he also shares the record for the highest score by an Asian wicket-keeper outside the sub-continent with Bangladesh’s Mushfiqur Rahim who scored 159 against New Zealand in 2017.

#2 Budhi Kunderan - 192 vs England in Madras, 1964

Budhi Kunderan opened the batting for India when he scored 192 vs England

Budhi Kunderan competed with Farokh Engineer to be India’s wicketkeeper in the 1960s and he played as a wicketkeeper in 15 Test matches for India. However, he was adept with the bat and was picked as a batsman for three more Test matches.

Extraordinarily, Kunderan opened the bowling and batting for India in his final Test, against England, in 1967. India opted to play four specialist spinners and thus Kunderan was given the daunting task of bowling to Geoffrey Boycott and Colin Milburn.

The highlight of his career came in 1964 against England at Madras. Kunderan was picked for the squad because Engineer was injured and he was given the opportunity to open the innings. Interestingly, in his two previous Tests, he batted at No 11 and No 10.

At Madras, Kunderan scored 192 runs which was then the highest score by an Indian batsman against England. He also had a hand in six dismissals in the same Test.

Kunderan scored another century in the same series at Delhi and amassed 525 runs at an average of 52.5.

His score against England was the highest by a wicketkeeper in Test matches at that time beating the previous record of 168* by Clyde Walcott for England vs West Indies in 1950. It was only surpassed for the first time in 1980 by Pakistan’s Taslim Arif against Australia. Today, it is the eleventh highest score of all-time by a wicketkeeper in Test matches.

#1. MS Dhoni - 224 vs Australia in Chennai, 2013

Dhoni is the only Indian keeper to score a double century

Atop the list is India’s greatest wicketkeeper, MS Dhoni. Dhoni’s 224 vs Australia in 2013 is the only double century yet by an Indian keeper in Test matches and the fourth highest score ever by any wicketkeeper in Test matches behind only Kumar Sangakkara and Andy Flower.

Batting first, Australia was bowled out for only 380 runs in the first Test match of the series. In reply, the Indian openers were dismissed cheaply but Cheteshwar Pujara and Sachin Tendulkar provided some respite. However, when the latter was dismissed, the score was 196/4 with MS Dhoni walking out to join Virat Kohli in the middle.

Kohli scored a ton with a strike rate of 51.94 but MS Dhoni tore into the Aussie pace attack scoring 224 in only 265 balls! He hit 24 fours and six sixes before he was dismissed.

India scored 572 runs in the first innings which gave them a substantial lead. The Australian batsmen only managed 241 runs in the second innings giving India a meagre target of only 50 runs which was easily chased down.

Dhoni was named the Man of the Match for his only double century in international cricket.