Rishabh Pant smashes fastest-ever Ranji Trophy century

In Delhi's Ranji group match against Jharkhand, the Delhi side were forced to follow on in their second innings after scoring 334 in reply to Jharkhand's first innings score of 493. After Delhi openers Unmukt Chand and Dhruv Shorey had set up a century partnership, Delhi had slumped to 214/3. However, Rishabh Pant came in and scored a quick-fire century that took all of just 48 balls. Pant eventually fell for 135 from 67 balls after being dismissed by Ashish Kumar and caught by his U-19 opening mate Ishan Kishan.

The record for the fastest Ranji ton had previously belonged to Rajesh Borah who had scored his ton off 56 balls in 1988. Pant's feat today leaves that mark far behind as the youngster becomes the first Indian to score a first-class century in below 50 balls. The fastest first-class century belongs to Glen Chapple of Lancashire who scored a century off just 27 balls in 1993, although the mark was equalled by Mark Pettini of Essex in 2006.

Pant had scored a century in the first innings as well making 117 off 106 balls. However, Pant's second innings was a masterclass under pressure after Delhi had fallen behind by 159 runs.

Pant has already been making a mark for himself in the Indian cricket scene. The youngster opened the innings for India in the U-19 World Cup last year scoring a century and a half-century in the team's successful run to the final. Although they lost the final, Pant was one of the stars who caught the eye.

Just a few days back, Pant had scored a triple-century to become the second wicket-keeper batsman to achieve the feat in first-class cricket. Pant had scored 308 from 326 balls in Delhi's match against Maharashtra.