We need to be extra careful about Rishabh Pant: Rohit Sharma

India keeper-batter Rishabh Pant suffered from a swollen knee, which forced the 26-year-old to miss Day 3 of the first Test against New Zealand in Bengaluru. He didn’t take the field in the final innings of the game as well, indicating that the cricketer is currently dealing with a knee issue. It’s unclear whether he will recover before the second Test in Pune. But captain Rohit Sharma clarified that the team management will be extra careful regarding Pant going forward.

The star player suffered multiple injuries following a horrific car accident in December 2022. It took him 14 months to recover and be back on the cricket field but when it comes to Test cricket, he was expected to be back in 2025. However, he recovered very well, making a stunning comeback to red-ball cricket in the Duleep Trophy 2024 and later, featured in the two-match Test series against Bangladesh.

However, the recent incident made the team management cautious as Rohit Sharma noted that Pant wasn’t very comfortable running while running in the second innings. The Indian captain explained that the injury wasn’t a massive one but the team management decided to bench and not risk him as he is a very important asset in the Test squad.

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“Yeah, look, about his (Rishabh Pant) injury, I think he had a massive operation on his leg. So, we all know what he went through. So, it's just to be a little careful about where he is at and what he is to us. Even when he was batting, he was not comfortably running. He was trying to only put the ball in the stands. But, again, with someone like him, we just need to be extra careful,” Rohit said in the press conference.

“Because he has had a lot of minor surgeries, one big surgery on his knee. And he went through a lot of trauma, to be honest, in the last one and a half years. So, it's just about being extra careful, not careful with him. So, when you are keeping, you have to bend every ball with your knee going down. And the wicket being what it was, we thought it is the right thing to do for him to stay inside and then get 100% ready for the next one,” he added.

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India will clash with New Zealand in second Test in Pune

Meanwhile, speaking of the rest of the ongoing Test series, Team India’s second Test against New Zealand will begin on October 24. In case the think tank decides to give a break to Pant, Dhruv Jurel will be replacing him in the playing XI for the upcoming World Test Championship (WTC 2023-25) fixture.