Team India assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate on Thursday confirmed that Rishabh Pant is getting closer to regaining full fitness ahead of the fourth Test match against England, starting from July 23 at Old Trafford.“He will bat in Manchester before the Test. Look, I don’t think it’s going to keep Rishabh out of the Test, no matter what,” ten Doeschate told reporters.“He batted with quite a lot of pain in the third Test, and it’s only going to get easier and easier on his finger,” he said.On the first day of the Lord’s Test, Pant suffered an injury after diving to pick up the ball but could not collect it cleanly. Following that, he was seen in a lot of pain and had to leave the field for medical attention.Dhruv Jurel took the field as he replaced Pant as the wicketkeeper during the second session of the first day of the Test match. Despite the finger injury, Pant batted in both innings and made a brilliant 74.
The assistant coach, however, said whether Pant will keep or not is a decision the team still needs to make.“Keeping is obviously the last part of the process to make sure that he can keep. We don’t want to go through that again, where we have to replace the keeper after three innings.“But yeah, he rested today. He’s trying to give the finger as long as possible, and hopefully he’s good to go in Manchester,” he said.
