Rishabh Pant got injured during the Manchester Test. Now, he will miss the final match due to a toe fracture. India’s wicketkeeper has been asked to take six weeks of rest, according to The Indian Express.
The injury happened when a ball hit his right foot during a reverse sweep. Ishan Kishan will join the squad for the fifth Test, starting July 31 at The Oval, as per the publication.
The last time Ishan Kishan played a Test match for India was in July 2023. In IPL 2025, Ishan played for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). He scored a century in his debut for Hyderabad. Kishan, along with Shreyas Iyer, earlier lost their BCCI central contracts for not prioritising domestic cricket.
India are in the middle of an injury crisis before the fourth Test. All-rounder Nitesh Kumar Reddy is out with a knee injury. Bowlers Akash Deep and Arshdeep Singh are also unavailable.
With one player short, the team has asked doctors if Pant can bat after taking a pain killer. However, Pant needs help even to walk.
“The scan report showed a fracture and he is ruled out for six weeks. The medical team is trying to see if he can come out to bat again by taking a pain killer. He still needs support to walk though and chances of his batting looks very bleak,” a BCCI source told The Indian Express.
England vs India 4th Test
India ended Day 1 at 264/4. India batted well early on, with KL Rahul and Yashasvi Jaiswal putting up 78 runs. England fought back, taking quick wickets.
Sai Sudharsan and Rishabh Pant had added 72 before India’s vice captain got injured. Sudharsan made 61. Jaiswal also scored a half-century. Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur, at the crease for India, have kept things steady.
England bowled poorly with the new ball despite Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes looking good. Liam Dawson took Jaiswal’s wicket. Bad light ended play before England could take the second new ball.
As soon as the news of Rishabh Pant being ruled out for the remainder of the England Test series broke, the Ajit Agarkar-led selection committee decided to contact Ishan Kishan, hoping to add the wicket-keeper batter to the roster as the replacement for the injured star. But, the selection committee received a firm no from Ishan, who had sustained a bizarre injury that prevented him from flying to England for the final Test of the series, even if he wanted to.
It has been widely reported that Ishan Kishan won’t be available to travel to England as he is not fully. The selectors reached out to him, but it has been conveyed to them that Ishan can’t make the trip to England due to an ankle injury.
Another report in the Times of India explained that Ishan incurred an injury after falling from a scooty. The injury was such that he needed stitches on his left ankle. Hence, flying to England as a replacement for Pant was out of question.
Kishan was recently seen in action for Nottinghamshire in the County Championship, where he had signed a short-term deal. He registered scores of 87 and 77, impressive everyone with his performance with the bat.
According to a report in Cricbuzz, N Jagadeesan ‘is almost certain’ to replace the injured Pant for the remainder of the series. Jagadeesan, a right-handed keeper batter from Tamil Nadu, has an experience of 52 first-class matches. In those matches, he took 133 catches and affected 14 stumpings. He has 3373 first-class runs. England legend Geoffrey Boycott made a scathing remark on Rishabh Pant‘s unfortunate injury during the Manchester Test, saying that the Indian batter has himself to blame for it. Pant suffered a painful blow to his right foot while trying a reverse sweep against Chris Woakes. The impact left him bleeding and barely able to stand, prompting immediate medical attention. He had to be carried off the field on a buggy and was taken to a nearby facility for scans and further evaluation.
Rishabh Pant won hearts, in a stirring show of resilience on Day 2 of the fourth Test against England by walking back out to bat despite reportedly suffering a fractured toe.
The Indian wicketkeeper-batter, who had retired hurt on Day 1 after under-edging a Chris Woakes delivery onto his foot, returned to the crease in Manchester to add valuable runs for India, drawing praise from across the cricketing world, most notably from former Indian batter Aakash Chopra.Pant, who top-scored with a gritty 54 off 75 balls, looked visibly uncomfortable as he hobbled between the wickets, yet stood firm against England’s bowling attack. Speaking on his YouTube channel, Chopra likened Pant’s brave effort to Anil Kumble’s iconic spell with a broken jaw in Antigua in 2002 a moment etched in Indian cricketing folklore.
Also Read: Just not cricket: Should Stokes and Archer have attacked Rishabh Pant’s broken toe?
“The first thing that came to my mind was Anil bhai bowling with a broken jaw. Rishabh Pant wasn’t even able to walk properly, he was taken out on a cart, and yet, he chose to come out and bat. That’s what spirit looks like, it’s unbreakable,” Chopra recalled.
His decision to bat reportedly came after scans confirmed he would be out for at least six weeks effectively ruling him out of the rest of the series. But Pant, fresh from a comeback after surviving a horrific car crash in 2022, didn’t hesitate when given the option. His response was simple, he wanted to bat.