Manchester, Jul 24: In a major blow to India's hopes of bouncing back in the series, wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant has been ruled out of the ongoing fourth Test against England after sustaining a toe fracture on the opening day.

Pant, who retired hurt on 37 after being hit on the right toe by Chris Woakes in the final session, has been advised six weeks' rest to recover from the blow, according to reports.

Wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan is in line to be added as a cover for Pant for the final Test of the series at The Oval in London.

In the 68th over of India’s innings, Pant attempted a premeditated reverse sweep off seamer Woakes but missed completely, with the ball striking his right boot after taking an inside edge.

With the swelling on top of the foot taking the shape of a table tennis ball and some blood coming out as well, Pant was unable to put any weight on his injured foot. Eventually, an ambulance buggy resembling a golf cart took a grimacing Pant off the field, as he retired hurt on 37 off 48 balls, after having a partnership worth 72 runs with B. Sai Sudharsan.

After the end of the play, Sudharsan revealed that it was a hefty blow, and Pant was in a lot of pain.

"He was in a lot of pain, definitely, but they have gone for scans; we will get to know overnight, probably get the information tomorrow," Sudharsan said in a press conference. "Obviously, because he was batting really well today as well. So, it will definitely have consequences.

"But at the same time, the batters who are batting right now and there are few more all-rounders inside. So, we will try and give our best and back long so that we negotiate that loss very well. I mean, I felt the dismissal, it held a bit more and bounced a bit more from the pavilion and actually quite a few balls was bouncing a bit more from the pavilion and I felt, I think we can see a bit more in the coming days," he added.

India were 264/4 at stumps with Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur batting on identical scores of 19.

(IANS)

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