India head coach Gautam Gambhir stated that Rishabh Pant has “no injury concerns” and is set to keep wickets for India ahead of the second Test against New Zealand starting on Thursday.
Pant hurt his knee during the second day’s play of the first Test in Bengaluru, which the hosts lost by 8 wickets.
The swashbuckling wicketkeeper-batter was replaced by Dhruv Jurel behind the wickets in the first innings, after which he came in to bat and put on a fiery show for all to see in the second innings.
Pant is said to have hit the nets for batting practice and also had a wicket-keeping drill with Gambhir on Tuesday.
“Absolutely,” Gambhir said on Wednesday when asked if everything was fine with the wicketkeeper-batter.
“I think he’s going to keep wickets tomorrow. (There are) no other fitness concerns,” he added.
This will come as good news to Indian skipper Rohit Sharma, who had earlier said that team management didn’t want to take any risks with Pant.
“He’s (Rishabh Pant) had a massive operation on his leg, so we all know what he went through,” Rohit had said.
“He’s had a lot of minor surgeries, one big surgery on his knee, and he went through a lot of trauma, to be honest, in the last one and a half years. So, it’s just about being extra careful, not careful with him. Even when he was batting, he was not comfortably running. He was trying to only put the ball in the stands.”
India were skittled for a mere 46 runs after opting to bat first at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. In reply, New Zealand racked up 462 with Rachin Ravindra scoring a memorable century.
India produced a vastly improved show in their second dig but it wasn’t enough as New Zealand recorded their first Test win on Indian soil since 1988.
The second Test starts from Thursday in Pune.
(with agency inputs)
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