ICC Champions Trophy 2025: Rishabh Pant down with viral fever ahead of IND vs PAK clash, confirms VC Shubman Gill

Rishabh Pant was benched in India’s match against Bangladesh.

The Indian cricket team will take on Pakistan on Sunday in the most-awaited clash of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. This high-intensity encounter will be played in Dubai.

Both teams are coming off contrasting results from their first game of the tournament. While Pakistan lost to New Zealand in Karachi by 60 runs, India thumped Bangladesh in Dubai by six wickets.

Pakistan are virtually in a must-win situation against India. A lose on Sunday would mean them depending on India and Bangladesh both beating New Zealand.

Shubman Gill gives update on Rishabh Pant’s health

Meanwhile, India’s vice-captain Shubman Gill has revealed that wicket-keeper batsman Rishabh Pant is suffering from fever. On the eve of the match, in the press conference, a journalist queried Gill about Pant’s absence from India’s nets on Saturday.

Gill replied, “Rishabh is I think down with viral, that’s why he didn’t come for practice.”

This effectively rules out Pant from Sunday’s game, although he wasn’t expected to be part of India’s starting XI either. KL Rahul is India’s first-choice keeper-batsman in ODIs. Rahul played in all three ODIs against England at home and against Bangladesh. He has scores of 40 and 41* in his last two innings.

Gill also spoke about his opening combo with Rohit Sharma, alluding to their own contrasting batting approaches in the powerplay.

The young opener added, “The way we play the game in the powerplay is quite different to each other. Rohit bhai likes to play more aerial shots, and tries to hit those big sixes. And I like to play along the ground, and I like to pierce those gaps. In between, if I see the bowler is under pressure, I like to go over the circle. I think that’s the hallmark of us as a pair. We score boundaries with different shots. The bowlers really have to think which areas to target for us, because the areas we play the shots are different from each other.”

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