India wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant on Sunday dropped a massive hint about his injury status as the Team India vice-captain shared a 31-second video in which he can be seen batting without any visible discomfort.Pant posted a video of himself playing football, doing fielding drills, and batting in the nets ahead of the fourth Test, which starts on July 23 at Old Trafford in Manchester.“If calm had a sound, it would be this,” Pant wrote on X.Pant had walked off the field during the second session of play on Day 1 of the third Test against England after suffering a blow to his left index finger.He was replaced by Jurel, who was not in the playing XI for the third Test, after on-field treatment failed to help the vice-captain recover sufficiently.Pant was grimacing in pain after putting in a dive to stop a delivery on his left, which Jasprit Bumrah had sprayed down the leg side in the 34th over of the innings during the second session.
Pant managed to get his hands on the ball but couldn’t stop it entirely, as England batters Joe Root and Ollie Pope scampered for a couple.Play was then held up for a while as Pant received treatment on his hand from the Indian support staff, but the wicketkeeper kept shrugging his hands when the action resumed.Eventually, Pant left the field after the end of Bumrah’s over, with Jurel taking over the wicketkeeping duties.There was uncertainty about whether Pant would play in the Manchester Test.“He will bat in Manchester before the Test. Look, I don’t think the injury is going to keep Rishabh out of the Test, no matter what. 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. And 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,” Team India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate told reporters on Thursday.
