Pant's 2nd ball six on debut is India's first in 525 Tests

The 20-year-old was batting on 22 when stumps were called on Day 1 and his primary job on Sunday will be to bat along with Ashwin and the tailenders to get India close to the 400-run mark. The visitors are at 307 for six.

Pant, who got off the mark in his second ball, also became the joint quickest to open his account in Test cricket with a six. New Zealand’s Mark Craig is the only cricketer to hit a first-ball six on Test debut in 2014.

Pant is the 12th batsman overall to do so after Eric Freeman, Carlisle Best, Keith Dabengwa, Dale Richards, Shafiul Islam, Jahurul Islam, Al-Amin Hossain, Mark Craig, Dhananjaya De Silva, Kamrul Islam Rabbi and Sunil Ambris.

Despite a flamboyant beginning, there was more to pant’s innings than the record-creating six. The left-hander showed his willingness to adapt to the condition, displaying tight technique when England took the second ball.

Pant was watchful against Anderson, who was angling the ball away from India’s wicket-keeper but was quick to latch on to anything lose like he did on two occasions against Stuart Broad.

20-year-old Delhi wicket-keeper batsman became India’s 291st Test cricketer on Saturday after he handed his Test cap by Indian captain Virat Kohli before the toss of the third Test match against England at Trent Bridge.

Incidentally, Kohli had made his international debut – an ODI against Sri Lanka in Dambula – on the same day, 10 years ago.

Pant came into the side after Dinesh Karthik failed to grab his chances in the first two Tests with scores of 0, 20, 1 and 0.

Pant got his chance to bat towards the latter part of Day 1 and immediately grabbed the eyeballs.

The former India U-19 star became the first Indian to open his Test account with a six – in 525 Tests - when he hit leg-spinner Adil Rashid for a beautiful lofted shot straight over long on.