By Shrivathsa Sridhar
BENGALURU (Reuters) – India captain Rohit Sharma said they will have to carefully manage Rishabh Pant’s workload for the remainder of the series against New Zealand after the wicketkeeper-batsman suffered a knee injury in their eight-wicket defeat by the tourists.
Pant left the field when he was struck on his right knee after missing a stumping chance on the second day of the rain-hit test in Bengaluru last Thursday and handed the gloves to Dhruv Jurel for the rest of the match.
The 27-year-old, who had surgery on the same knee after a near-fatal car crash in late 2022, returned to the field to bat in India’s second innings but looked uncomfortable while running between the wickets during his defiant 99.
“He’s had a massive operation on his leg, we all know what he went through,” Rohit told reporters.
“It’s (important) just to be a little careful about where he is at and what he is to us. Even when he was batting, he was not running comfortably.
“He was trying to put the ball in the stands. He has had a lot of minor surgeries … and went through a lot of trauma in the last 1-1/2 years.”
Pant has been a vital part of India’s team since returning to international cricket earlier this year and will be relied upon when they head to Australia for five tests after matches against New Zealand in Pune and Mumbai.
Rohit said they erred on the side of caution by keeping Pant in the locker room for New Zealand’s second innings.
“When you’re keeping, you have to bend every ball with your knee going down we thought it is the right thing to do for him to stay in and get 100% ready for the next one,” he added.
India added bowling all-rounder Washington Sundar to their squad before the second test beginning on Thursday.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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