Indian wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant been ruled out of the ODI series against New Zealand, which begins on Sunday, January 11, due to an injury. Rishabh Pant faced a fresh setback on the eve of the game
as he was hit just above his waist while batting against throw down specialists. As soon as Pant was spotted grimacing in pain, he was attended to by the Indian team’s support staff and other team members quickly noticed and attended him.
BCCI confirmed this in a statement. “Pant felt a sudden onset [of] discomfort in his right lateral abdominal area while batting in the nets during India’s practice session on Saturday afternoon at the BCA Stadium, Vadodara. He was taken for MRI scans immediately and the BCCI medical team had a detailed discussion with an expert on his clinical and radiological findings. Pant has been diagnosed with a side strain (oblique muscle tear) and is subsequently ruled out of the ODI series.” Bcci statement added
The injury to Pant turned out to be serious, and it is enough to keep him out of the series against New Zealand. The wicketkeeper has already left the Indian camp. The BCCI on Sunday named Dhruv Jurel as the replacement. Pant has played 31 ODIs so far, scoring 871 runs at an average of 33.50 and a strike rate of 106.21.
Pant has scored one century to his name in the format, and it came against England. He has been the backup keeper in the previous series. Replacing him is Dhruv Jurel who has been rewarded after being Uttar Pradesh’s top-scorer in the Vijay Hazare Trophy with 558 runs in seven matches, including two centuries, at an average of over 90. But with KL Rahul already in the side, Dhruv Jurel is likely to be benched and his chance might arrive only if Rahul is rested or injured.
India's updated ODI squad for New Zealand series Shubman Gill (C), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Shreyas Iyer (VC), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd Siraj, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (WK).
