Rishabh Pant’s knee injury prevented him from taking the field against New Zealand on the third day of the ongoing Test match in Bengaluru. The Indian wicket-keeper was injured on Thursday when a Ravindra Jadeja delivery hit him on the right knee roll as he fell to the ground, grimacing in pain. Eventually, Pant was carried off the field and was replaced by Dhruv Jurel behind the stumps.
Amid the concern over his fitness, Pant was seen taking throwdowns during the tea break on Day 3 and was also padded up in the dressing room. In a viral video, the wicketkeeper-batter could be seen practising during the break and hitting a few balls into the stands.
Pant will join Sarfaraz Khan in the middle on Day 4 as India will resume their second innings at 231/3, trailing New Zealand by 125 runs. On Friday, Virat Kohli, who completed 9,000 Test runs during the course of his knock, was caught out by Glenn Phillips off the last ball of the day, edging to Tom Blundell, leaving Sarfaraz (70) at the crease at the close of play.
Kohli and Sarfaraz added 136 runs for the third wicket after skipper Rohit Sharma did the early running with a fluent 52. This was after New Zealand posted a total of 402 all out to gain a massive lead of 356 runs thanks to Rachin Ravindra (134) and Tim Southee (63), who added a precious 134 runs for a flowing eighth-wicket stand.
The largest deficit India has overturned to win a Test in their cricketing history is 274 during the iconic Kolkata Test against Australia in 2001. Such an epic is still some distance away, but hopes will be flickering after the day’s effort with the bat.
Amid the more scintillating fifties by Rohit and Sarfaraz, Kohli’s effort still stood out for its personal and situational significance. It was his first Test half-century of 2024, and he could not have timed his 31st in the longest format better.
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