Rishabh Pant dazzled with another freakish batting performance in the ongoing first IND vs NZ Test. The Bengaluru crowd witnessed two incredible knocks, with Sarfaraz Khan hammering 150 and Pant dishing out a stellar show. However, the entire stadium went silent when Pant dragged one onto his stumps, ultimately getting bowled on 99. The innings that was filled with explosiveness also saw Pant endure some knee pain. Due to this, India didn’t send the southpaw to keep in the fourth innings.
Dhruv Jurel keeps again, no sign of Rishabh Pant
The 26-year-old, who recently made his return to Test cricket after a long injury hiatus, picked up a knock to his knee on Day 2. This led Dhruv Jurel to keep as a substitute for Pant midway in the second innings as well. Pant, who has been recovering from a serious leg injury sustained in a car accident in December 2022, aggravated his condition during a fielding mishap on Thursday. While trying to stump New Zealand opener Devon Conway off Ravindra Jadeja’s bowling, Pant failed to gather the ball cleanly, and in the process, the ball struck his knee—the same leg on which he had surgery earlier this year.
Incredibly, Pant walked out to bat for India in the third innings on Day 4 and hammered a dominating 99. He even clubbed a stupendous 107-metre six to pacer Tim Southee while sitting on his knee! After India was bowled out for 462 and set up a target of 107, we saw Dhruv Jurel behind the stumps. This showed that India is sensibly playing safe for Pant’s knee issue! Not to mention, Jurel took an absolute blinder of a diving take to kickstart the proceedings.
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