London: The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said India vice-captain Rishabh Pant is undergoing treatment for a left index finger injury sustained during the third Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Test match at Lord’s. With Pant under the medical team’s supervision, reserve wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel is currently on keeping duties for India.
The incident happened during the second session’s play when in the 34th over Pant copped a blow to the fingertips on his left hand while attempting to stop a Jasprit Bumrah delivery that was fired down legside against Ollie Pope.
“India vice-captain Rishabh Pant got hit on his left index finger. He is receiving treatment at the moment and under the supervision of the medical team. Dhruv Jurel is currently keeping wickets in Rishabh’s absence,” said the BCCI in an official updated posted on its ‘X’ account.
Pant, who had dived to stop the ball, was visibly grimacing in pain while receiving treatment from physio Kamlesh Jain and even when he got his fingers heavily taped up. Though Pant stayed on for the rest of the over, he walked off the field for further treatment once it was done.
Jurel had been India’s wicketkeeper in three Tests against England in the home series in 2024 and had kept wickets in India A’s games against England Lions before the five-match Test series commenced. Jurel had also kept wickets when Pant suffered an injury to his knee during the Test against New Zealand in Bengaluru in October 2024.
Later, visuals showed head coach Gautam Gambhir and batting coach Sitanshu Kotak getting up from their seats in the dressing room balcony to have a look at Pant when he arrived with Jain in the Indian team’s inner sanctum. On the ongoing tour, Pant has scored 342 runs in two matches at an average of 85.50, including hitting two hundreds in the series opener at Headingley.
(IANS)
