Rishabh Pant had misread a Ravindra Jadeja delivery in the 37th over of New Zealand’s first innings on Day 2 and not only missed the opportunity to stump Devon Conway but ended up getting hit with the red cherry straight on his right knee that had been operated on just a few months ago. As a result, the wicket-keeper batter limped off and substitute Dhruv Jurel took over the gloves. Even though the 26-year-old scored a rapid 99 in the ensuing batting innings including a few sweeps and ramps, he often limped between the wickets and Jurel continued to keep in the Kiwis’ 107-run chase thereafter. However, India’s assistant head coach Ryan ten Doeschate believes Pant would be behind the stumps when the second Test rolls around.
”Rishabh’s pretty good,” he was quoted saying by ESPN Cricinfo. “I think Rohit touched on it the other day. He was having a little bit of discomfort at the end range of his movement with the knee. But fingers crossed he’ll be good to keep in this Test as well.”
ten Doeschate was also hopeful of Shubman Gill returning to the number three slot after overcoming his neck soreness that made him miss the Bangalore encounter. The batter’s inclusion is likely to come at the cost of either KL Rahul or Sarfaraz Khan whle Virat Kohli would return to his preferred number four position.
“He’s batted last week in Bangalore, he had a few nets. He’s got a little bit of discomfort, but I’ll think he will be good to go for the Test,” the Dutch coach informed.
India has also made one change to the squad ahead of the second Test by adding Washington Sundar to their spin reserves. The off-spinner is likely to play backup to Ravichandran Ashwin after the off-spinner bowled just two of the 27.4 overs in the fourth innings after conceding 94 and just scalping one wicket in 16 overs in the previous innings, with ten Doeschate dismissing notions that his inclusion is out of desperation.
“Ashwin’s fine. He’s absolutely fine,” ten Doeschate said. “He bowled nicely. I know he bowled only two overs in the second innings, but it looked like his pace and his rhythm were back to where it needs to be.”
“No, [bringing Sundar in is] definitely not [a desperate measure]. Look, we’ve obviously got Axar in the squad as well and with four left-handers in their XI, we want the option to take the ball away from the left-handers as well.”
“We’ve had Washy around the white-ball squad for a while and like the way he operates,” ten Doeschate said. “And it’s also nice to see guys are getting rewarded for Ranji Trophy performances as well. So hopefully that sends a good message out to the other guys and it’s certainly not a desperate measure. We’ve certainly got a lot of faith in the spinners that we have, and we just want to make sure we’re absolutely prepared for the conditions and if that does mean taking the ball away from the left-hander, we want that option,” he added.
