Rishabh Pant scored his maiden hundred in South Africa and his fourth in Test cricket on Thursday to help India extend their lead in the third and final Test against the Dean Elgar-led side at the Newlands. With the three-figure mark, Pant is now the only Indian wicketkeeper to have scored a century in South Africa and he did it in style.

Pant brought up his first hundred of 2022 with a single off Marco Jansen in the second session on Day 3 of the decisive Test. Pant came to the crease after the loss of Ajinkya Rahane’s wicket before lunch with India struggling at 58 for 4.

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He then forged a crucial partnership with his captain Virat Kohli worth 94 runs for the 5th wicket to bail his team out of the muddy waters. Pant played his natural game right from the time he came to the crease, hitting 6 fours and 4 sixes in his centurion knock.

After the tea break, Pant took the attack to Keshav Maharaj and smashed back-to-back sixes off the Protea spinner. The first one was a trademark slog-sweep with one hand off the handle while the other one was a much more traditional loft down the ground.

South Africa got off to a stunning start in the morning as they got rid of Cheteshwar Pujara (9) who was brilliantly caught at leg slip by a diving Keegan Petersen off the second ball of the day from Marco Jansen (2-25) and Ajinkya Rahane (1) who was then caught on the glove as he tried to fend off a Kagiso Rabada (2-45) delivery and although the ball was dropped by wicketkeeper Kyle Verreynne, slip fielder Dean Elgar was on hand to grab the rebound.

There may have been fears that India would suffer another batting collapse as they have in each of the other tests in the series, but Kohli and Pant weathered a barrage of short-pitch bowling and ensured their side edge towards a winning lead.