Cricket News / Rishabh Pant en route to New Zealand, expected to join Test squad in Wellington on Friday

New Delhi, Nov 12: In a major boost for the Indian team, wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant is en route to New Zealand and is expected to join the Test squad in Wellington on Friday.

Pant received clearance from the medical team following an extended rehabilitation programme at the Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru. He flew to New Zealand early Thursday.

“He left for New Zealand this morning and is expected to reach there via a connecting flight from Singapore. As of now, we believe he’s left Singapore also and is expected to reach Wellington by early morning New Zealand time and wee hours, as per Indian Standard Time,” said a source to IANS.

Pant picked up the side strain injury while captaining Rest of India (RoI) in the Irani Cup held in Srinagar from October 1 to 4. He reported to the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru in the last week of October, where he worked on his recovery and all aspects of his game in several sessions.

Pant was already named in India’s Test squad for the tour, as well as in the India A side for three four-day matches against New Zealand A. But his availability was subjected to full fitness, something which was under huge uncertainty.

Though Pant’s recovery was going well, the slow nature of it meant that the fitness clearance took longer than expected to come. He missed the first two India A games and was initially expected to play in the third game from November 7 to 10 in Lincoln. But with his recovery taking time, Pant had to miss that match.

In Wellington, Pant will meet up with captain Shubman Gill, KL Rahul and Anshul Kamboj, who were released from the ODI squad after the third game to start preparing for the two-game Test series.

Pant’s arrival, however, gives the team management a selection headache. Wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel, who captained India A, made a strong case for inclusion in the playing eleven with a century and a fifty in four innings against New Zealand A.

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Top-order batters B Sai Sudharsan and Devdutt Padikkal have also been in impressive form. Sudharsan scored 91 and 88 in five innings for India A, while Padikkal registered scores of 199 and 80 in his two outings.

Much is at stake for Shubman Gill and Co in the upcoming Test series, with matches scheduled in Wellington and Christchurch. India are currently fourth in the World Test Championship (WTC) standings and need victories to remain in contention for the final, scheduled for June 2027.

The 2021 champions New Zealand currently lead the standings, followed by defending champions South Africa and 2023 winners Australia.

(IANS)