Manchester, Jul 24 (PTI) India wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant was on Thursday ruled out of the ongoing Test series against England after fracturing his toe on the opening day of the fourth Test here, adding to a growing injury list and robbing the visitors of his much-needed flamboyance with the bat.
The 27-year-old Pant retired hurt at 37 and went for scans after copping a blow on his right foot while attempting a reverse sweep off England pacer Chris Woakes on Wednesday.
Going into day two, all the chatter at Old Trafford was about Pant, who is probably the only one in the current Indian batting line-up with an ability to change the momentum with his audacious stroke-play.
On expected lines, he did not travel with the team to the ground on Thursday and instead went for additional scans.
“He is ruled out for the next six weeks. Ishan Kishan will be called in as cover. His metatarsal bones (a group of five long bones located between the ankle and toe) seem to be shattered. It doesn’t look good at all,” a BCCI source told PTI.
An official update from the BCCI is still awaited. But the severity of the injury was apparent given the blood that was seen seeping off Pant’s right foot. The affected area had considerable swelling as well.
On day one, Pant was the only one to take the attack to Jofra Archer and Co. while the other batters struck at three runs per over.
Before getting hit on his right foot, Pant had perfected an outrageous sweep off Archer before smashing Brydon Carse down the ground as if he was a spinner.
India have already lost all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy to a knee problem, while pacers Akash Deep and Arshdeep Singh are missing the ongoing game because of a groin niggle and a finger injury respectively.
Pant’s ouster adds to the problems for the team which is trailing 1-2 right now.
Kishan, who recently played two County matches for Nottinghamshire, was also a part of the India A squad that faced the England Lions ahead of the Test series, though the 26-year-old did not appear in any of the two matches.
The think tank can also ask KL Rahul to keep wickets, but he has not performed that role since the tour of South Africa in the 2023-24 season.
“He hardly put his foot on the ground (after the impact). The immediate swelling was a worry for me. I have had a metatarsal injury myself and they are small fragile bones.
“The fact that he could not put any weight on it, it doesn’t look good at all,” Ricky Ponting, who is commentating on the game, had said on ‘Sky Sports’ after the incident.
Dhruv Jurel, the other wicketkeeper in the squad, was not picked for the current match.
This was the second injury for Pant in this series as he had bruised his finger while keeping during the third Test at the Lord’s, which prevented him from guarding the stumps in England’s second innings.
The flamboyant player made his comeback to international cricket only last year after surviving a life-threatening car crash in 2022. PTI BS PM PM PM
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