India have been dealt a big blow in the ongoing fourth Test against England in Manchester as Rishabh Pant has officially been ruled out of the game in terms of wicket-keeping duties.
The left-hander, who sustained a foot injury late on the opening day against Chris Woakes, has been diagnosed with toe fracture and signs don't look good for the rest of the series. As for the fourth Test, Pant may still be available to bat but only if the match situation demands him to. Which means that the team management is unlikely to risk him again in the first innings and it shall then be about the kind of situation India is in during the second innings, depending on which the management would decide whether to send Pant in or not. As such, the injury does look serious and given the spate of injuries he has already suffered this series, the think tank would do well to handle the 27-year-old with caution.
"Rishabh Pant, who sustained an injury to his right foot on Day 1 of the Manchester Test, will not be performing wicket-keeping duties for the remainder of the match. Dhruv Jurel will assume the role of wicket-keeper. Despite his injury, Rishabh Pant has joined the team on Day 2 and will be available to bat as per team requirements." said the official statement from BCCI on the social media platform X.
Dhruv Jurel, who did keeping duties for a majority of the Lord's Test, will once again be donning the wicket-keeping subsitute role when India take the field. He could also be line to replace Pant for The Oval Test although that decision will be for another day. There are also discussions about flying in Ishan Kishan as a replacement for Pant.
The Jharkhand left-hander offers a similar prototype of a wicket-keeper batter to Pant but has been off the selectors' radar for a while. According to Cricbuzz, Kishan's name is in the discussions and he did recently have a short stint in the County circuit with Nottinghamshire but is currently back in India.
Pant suffered the injury while attempting one of his audacious reverse sweeps against Chris Woakes who deceived the left-hander with a slower yorker. Not only did Pant fail to connect properly but got a faint inside edge that crashed into the left side of the boot where the protection is generally lesser. Immediately, he signaled for the physio and live images at the time showed a swelling as well as bleeding. Subsequently, Pant had to be escorted off the field.
