India vs New Zealand: Rishabh Pant fit to play Pune Test

After taking the knock on the knee which was operated upon after his car crash in December 2022, Rishabh Pant went off the field straightaway and Dhruv Jurel had to keep for the rest of the game. However, the swashbuckling left-hander walked out to bat in India’s second innings and scored 99 off 105 balls despite never looking 100 percent comfortable and at times was seen hobbling between wickets.

Captain Rohit Sharma said that the team management wanted to be extra careful when it came to Rishabh Pant’s knees, especially as he has had major surgeries after the life-threatening car accident, which kept him away from action for close to a year and a half.

“He’s (Rishabh Pant) had a massive operation on his leg, so we all know what he went through,” Rohit had said after the first Test. “He’s 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. Even when he was batting, he was not comfortably running. He was trying to only put the ball in the stands.”

Pratyush Raj is a sports journalist with The Indian Express Group and specializes in breaking news stories and conducting in-depth investigative reports for the paper. His passion extends to crafting engaging content for the newspaper’s website. Pratyush takes a keen interest in writing on cricket and hockey. He started his career with the financial daily Business Standard but soon followed his true calling as Times of India’s sports reporter for Punjab in Chandigarh, a job that required extensive travel to states such as Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir. He has also contributed to the sports coverage of India Today Group. Pratyush’s love for sports blossomed during his upbringing in flood-prone Saharsa, a district in North Bihar, where ‘Cricket Samrat’ was his cherished companion.  … Read More