Ravi Shastri, the former India cricketer and head coach, thinks Rishabh Pant should not play in the fourth Test against England if he is not able to keep wickets. Pant hurt his finger on the first day of the third Test and didn’t keep wickets for the rest of the game; Dhruv Jurel took his place. India is down 1-2 in the five-match series, and the team really wants Pant to play in the fourth Test at Old Trafford, Manchester.
But Ravi Shastri disagrees, saying it could make Pant’s injury worse. Ryan Ten Doeschate, India’s assistant coach, said recently that Pant will probably play in the fourth Test just as a batter because he is in good form. Shastri thinks the wicketkeeper batter should rest and get ready for the last Test at the Oval.
Shastri told ICC, He’ll have to field, and if he fields, that will be worse. With the gloves, there is at least some protection. If he gets hit there without gloves, it won’t be good. It will make the injury worse. He has to keep and bat. He can’t just do one. If it’s a fracture, he should rest and be ready for The Oval. If not, he has about nine days to recover.
Pant has been in great form in this series. During the first match in Leeds, he became only the second wicketkeeper to score centuries in both innings of a Test match. He scored 134 (178), including 12 fours and six sixes, and then 118 (140) with 15 fours and three sixes in the second innings. In the second innings of the second Test, he also scored an important 65, helping India increase their lead. India won the match by 336 runs to tie the series 1-1. In the third Test, he played another important innings of 74 (112), building another key partnership with KL Rahul. Pant is now the second-highest run scorer in the series, with 425 runs from three matches at an average of 70.83, including two centuries and two fifties. He will want to keep up this performance in the fourth Test, which starts on July 23, as India tries to tie the series.