Rishabh Pant passes CoE fitness test and departs for New Zealand to join Test squad

Rishabh Pant left for New Zealand on Thursday, November 12, after passing a fitness test at the BCCI Centre of Excellence and has joined India’s Test squad.

Sources told India Today that Pant cleared his fitness assessment at the Centre of Excellence on November 10, having previously failed an initial fitness test on November 1. He had been working on rehabilitation at the CoE after sustaining a side strain during the Irani Cup in Srinagar in October, and spent more than two weeks at the facility after arriving on October 23. Pant left India at 11.15 am IST on Thursday and is scheduled to reach New Zealand via Singapore. He was originally named in India A’s squad for the three unofficial Tests in New Zealand but was ruled out following the injury setback; fresh assessments on November 10 included match simulations that he successfully completed.

His return to fitness comes as a significant boost for the Shubman Gill-led Test side ahead of the two-Test series, although the team management must now work out a plan to get him acclimatised to New Zealand conditions without the benefit of a practice match.

Captain Shubman Gill, KL Rahul and Anshul Kamboj left the ongoing ODI series midway to join the Test squad in Wellington. Several of India’s Test specialists — Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Dhruv Jurel, Mohammed Siraj and Ravindra Jadeja — featured in an unofficial Test against New Zealand A in Lincoln to gain match exposure in local conditions.

The Test specialists began training in Wellington on Thursday under the oversight of bowling coach Morne Morkel and assistant coach Sitanshu Kotak. Head coach Gautam Gambhir will remain with the ODI squad for the final two matches before joining the Test team, and Shreyas Iyer will lead India in the remaining two ODIs in Gill’s absence, with the visitors holding a 2-0 lead in the three-match series.

India will be hoping Pant is ready to slot straight into the playing XI, but his availability creates a selection dilemma after Dhruv Jurel strengthened his case during the unofficial Test series. Jurel scored a century and a half-century across four innings in those matches, gaining valuable exposure to New Zealand conditions, and has been part of India’s playing XI alongside Pant in recent Test assignments with the team finding ways to accommodate both wicketkeeper-batters. It remains to be seen whether the Rajasthan Royals player will once again feature as a specialist batter if Pant is chosen as the first-choice wicketkeeper.

Pant will arrive in New Zealand without recent competitive match practice and will need to adapt quickly to local conditions. He featured in two Tests during India’s 2020 tour of New Zealand but failed to cross the 25-run mark in any of his four innings on that occasion.

Pant has been cleared to be considered for selection for the first Test, which begins on November 19, and the team management must now finalise the XI with Jurel’s form in the unofficial series a notable factor.