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.
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.
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