Rishabh Rajendra Pant (Hindi: [ɾɪˈʂʌbʰ ɾaː'dʒeːd̪ɾə pʌnt̪]; born 4 October 1997) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian national team as a wicket-keeper batter. He plays for the Delhi Capitals in the Indian Premier League and Delhi in domestic cricket.
Pant became the most expensive player in the history of the Indian Premier League when he was bought for ₹27.00 crore (US$2.8 million) by the Lucknow Super Giants in the 2025 league auction. He was a member of the Indian team that won the 2024 T20 World Cup and 2025 Champions Trophy. He was the vice-captain of the India U19 team that was runner-up at the 2016 U19 Cricket World Cup.
He made his T20I debut for India in January 2017, his Test debut in August 2018, and his ODI debut in October 2018. He holds the record for most sixes hit by an Indian batter in Test cricket, and the third most overall. In June 2022, Pant was named as the Indian captain for the T20I series against South Africa, after the designated captain KL Rahul was ruled out of the series due to an injury.
Pant was born on 4 October 1997 in Haridwar, Uttarakhand, India to Rajendra Pant and Saroj Pant, and hails from a Kumaoni family. He also has an elder sister, Sakshi Pant. At the age of 12, Pant would travel with his mother to Delhi during the weekends to train with Tarak Sinha at the Sonnet Cricket Academy. He and his mother stayed at a Gurdwara in Moti Bagh as they did not have suitable accommodation in the city.
Sinha suggested Pant switch to Rajasthan to play U-13 and U-15 cricket but to no avail. Pant was instructed by his mentor to overhaul his entire batting technique in the hopes of becoming a better batsman. His turning point came when he was playing U-19 cricket for Delhi against Assam. Pant had top-scored with 35 in his first innings and then hit 150 in the second innings, which he claims was the most important knock in his career.
On 1 February 2016, during the 2016 Under-19 Cricket World Cup, Pant hit an 18-ball fifty against Nepal, the fastest at this level.
Pant's father died on 6 April 2017, due to a cardiac arrest.
Pant made his first-class debut on 22 October 2015 in the 2015–16 Ranji Trophy and his List A debut the next month in the 2015–16 Vijay Hazare Trophy.
In the 2016–17 Ranji Trophy, while playing a match against Maharashtra, Pant scored 308 runs in an innings, becoming the third-youngest Indian to score a triple century in first-class cricket.
On 8 November 2016, Pant scored the fastest century in the Ranji Trophy, from just 48 balls, in Delhi's match against Jharkhand.
In February 2017, Pant was named Delhi's captain for the 2016–17 Vijay Hazare Trophy. He took over from Gautam Gambhir, who led Delhi to the final of the previous season. Delhi coach Bhaskar Pillai said it was a "consensus decision" to prepare Pant for the future.
On 14 January 2018, in the 2017–18 Zonal T20 League match between Himachal Pradesh and Delhi, Pant scored the second-fastest century in a Twenty20 match, making 100 from 32 balls.
Pant was purchased by the Delhi Daredevils ahead of the 2016 Indian Premier League on the same day he scored a century for India U-19 team in the 2016 Under-19 Cricket World Cup, guiding them into the semi-finals. Playing his third game of the season, Pant made 69 runs off 40 balls to help Delhi secure an eight-wicket victory over Gujarat Lions. In the 2017 season, he scored 97 runs from 43 balls against the same team.
During the 2018 Indian Premier League, Pant scored an unbeaten 128 from 63 balls against the Sunrisers Hyderabad, making it the then highest individual score by an Indian cricketer in IPL history. He also became the second youngest player to score a century in the IPL. His score of 128 also comprised 68.4% of the teams total, making it the 2nd highest percentage of runs by an individual batsmen in an IPL match. In March 2021, Pant was named the captain of the Delhi Capitals for the 2021 Indian Premier League after the regular captain Shreyas Iyer was ruled out of the entire tournament due to an injury. He was retained as captain for the 2022 IPL season as well. In 2024, Delhi Capitals part its way from Pant for upcoming season and released him in auction.
Lucknow Super Giants bought Pant for record 27 Crores in the auction making him the most expensive player in history of IPL. The owner announced Rishabh as the captain for the team on 21 January for the upcoming 2025 IPL season. He scored his second ton in Indian Premier League 2025 against Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Ekana Cricket Stadium. After having a poor IPL 2026 both as a captain and a player for the Lucknow Super Giants, Pant resigned as the captain of team.
In January 2017, Pant was named in India's Twenty20 International (T20I) squad for their series against England. He made his debut for India in the third T20I against England at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore on 1 February 2017. Pant was the then youngest player to debut for India in a T20I match at the age of 19 years 120 days.
In February 2018, he was named in India's T20I squad for the 2018 Nidahas Trophy. In July 2018, Pant was named in India's Test squad for the series against England. He made his Test debut against England on 18 August 2018. He became the first batter for India to get off the mark in Test cricket with a six in the series. On 11 September 2018, Pant scored his maiden Test century, against England also becoming the second-youngest wicket-keeper and the first Indian wicket-keeper to score a Test century in England. The following month, he was named in India's One Day International (ODI) squad for their series against the West Indies. He made his ODI debut for India against the West Indies on 21 October 2018.
In December 2018, during the first Test against Australia, Pant took eleven catches, the most by a wicketkeeper for India in a Test match. In January 2019, during the fourth Test against Australia, Pant became the first wicketkeeper for India to score a century in a Test match in Australia.