Pant stays off the field after picking up knee injury while keeping

NewsIndia captain Rohit Sharma said there was swelling on the knee after the blow on day two; he did not take the field on the third morning either

Rishabh Pant took some throwdowns during the tea break on day three  •  Getty Images

Rishabh Pant hasn’t taken part in the ongoing Bengaluru Test after getting hit on the right knee while keeping on the second day (effectively the first day after no play was possible on Wednesday). Dhruv Jurel kept wickets for the remainder of New Zealand’s first innings, but Pant did walk out for a brief throwdown session during the tea break on the third day.

India went into tea at 57 for no loss in their second innings, having started with a deficit of 356. Pant is expected to bat if needed, which is likely given the match situation.

Pant went out at the interval close to the edge of the boundary near the pavilion wearing just one pad – on the non-injured right knee – but was still hobbling a little bit. He, however, struck the ball cleanly with batting coach Abhishek Nayar keeping a close watch. The focus appeared to be on playing the drives, to stretch and test the knee. At the end of the 15-odd minute session, Pant also played a few aerial shots into the crowd much to their delight.

Rohit Sharma had said on the second evening that Pant had some swelling in the injured area and the team didn’t want to take any risks given Pant had recovered from serious knee injuries sustained in a car crash in December 2022. On the third morning, a BCCI statement said, “The BCCI medical team is monitoring his progress.”

In the Bengaluru Test, Pant was hurt in the 37th over of New Zealand’s innings. Attempting to stump Devon Conway off Ravindra Jadeja, he failed to collect the ball and it hit him in the knee He went off the field immediately and was replaced by Jurel.

“Unfortunately, the ball hit straight on his knee cap, the same leg on which he has got a surgery done. So he has got a bit of swelling on it,” Rohit said after the day’s play. “And you know the muscles are quite tender at this point in time, so it’s a precautionary measure. We don’t want to take a risk. Rishabh doesn’t want to take a risk because he has gone through a massive surgery on that particular leg. That was the reason for him to go inside.”

After suffering career-threatening injuries during the car crash, Pant made his comeback only in IPL 2024.

*This article was updated at 9.40am GMT on October 18, 2024.