Rishabh Pant injured a finger on his left hand while keeping wickets in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy’s third Test at Lord’s on Day 1. Dhruv Jurel took over as wicketkeeper, forcing him to renounce his duties. Despite the strain, Pant batted in both innings, scoring 74 and nine runs.
Pant’s availability as a wicketkeeper-batsman is one of the most talked-about topics coming into the fourth Test, which begins on Wednesday, July 23, at Old Trafford in Manchester. With India behind 1-2 in the five-match series, Pant’s presence is critical for the Shubman Gill-led team.
Ahead of the important fourth Test, India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate addressed to the media in Beckenham and said that Pant will bat before the match, although the team management is taking precautions due to his finger injury.
“He’ll bat in Manchester before the test. I don’t think you’ll keep Rishabh out of the Test, no matter what. He batted with a lot of discomfort in the third Test, and it’s only going to get better for his finger,” ten Doeschate explained.
The former Netherlands all-rounder stated that keeping wickets is the final step in Pant’s comeback journey. He stated that India does not want to alter their wicketkeeper midway through the fourth Test, like they were obliged to do in the previous game at the Home of Cricket.
“Keeping is the final stage of the process. We need to make sure he can keep; we don’t want to go through it again, when we have to replace the keeper halfway through an innings,” he said.
Rishabh Pant has been in stunning form on the England tour so far.
In the first game at Headingley, he became only the second wicketkeeper-batter to score centuries in both innings of a Test match. In the second Test at Edgbaston, he registered scores of 25 and 65. The Indian vice-captain is the second-highest run-getter in the series so far, having scored 425 runs from three games at an average of 70.83.
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