In the middle of an injury-hit India camp, Rishabh Pant has offered a rare moment of relief. With three days left before the fourth Test at Old Trafford, the India vice-captain dropped a video that could be read as a signal of readiness; however, the video misses out on a critical piece of information.
In the 31-second clip shared on social media, Pant is seen batting freely, doing fielding drills, and kicking around a football, all without any noticeable discomfort. However, Pant didn’t don the wicketkeeping gloves, which is a major concern, since the Indian vice-captain didn’t keep wickets after facing a finger injury at Lord’s.
“If calm had a sound, it would be this,” Pant captioned the post on X, as fans flooded the replies with encouragement and relief.
Pant’s recovery has been a talking point ever since he sustained a blow to his left index finger during the third Test. The moment came in the 34th over of England’s first innings when he dived full stretch to stop a Jasprit Bumrah delivery down leg.
Although he got a hand on the ball, Pant was visibly in pain and appeared to grimace as he shook his left hand. Despite treatment from the physio staff, he didn’t last much longer and was taken off the field at the end of the over. Dhruv Jurel, who wasn’t part of the playing XI initially, had to take over behind the stumps.
While Pant did bat in the match, questions have loomed over whether he would be fit enough to don the gloves again in Manchester. India are already managing fitness concerns, and the possibility of losing Pant had only adds to their selection headache.
ten Doeschate on Pant
India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate, however, struck an optimistic note.
“He will bat in Manchester before the Test. Look, I don’t think the injury is going to keep Rishabh out of the Test, no matter what. He batted with quite a lot of pain in the third Test, and it’s only going to get easier and easier on his finger. And keeping is obviously the last part of the process to make sure that he can keep. We don’t want to go through that again, where we have to replace the keeper after three innings,” he said.
With the fourth Test starting on July 23, all eyes will remain on Pant’s fitness and whether he can keep wickets or if India will have to add another spot for Dhruv Jurel to potentially operate behind the wickets.