Massive blow for India as Rishabh Pant gets ruled out home test series against the West Indies - Reports

Rishabh Pant suffered a foot injury during India’s test tour of England earlier this year.

Indian Cricket Team have been dealt with a massive blow ahead of their home test series against the West Indies Cricket Team, scheduled to be played next month. According to a report in ESPN Cricinfo, wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant has been ruled out of the series as he is yet to recover from his foot injury.

During India’s test tour of England earlier this year, Pant suffered a foot injury during the fourth test in Manchester. He was hit on his foot off Chris Woakes’ delivery. He suffered bleeding and later through scans it was revealed that he suffered a fracture, which ruled him out of the subsequent test at The Oval, London.

Rishabh Pant, who was named as vice-captain of the Indian test side ahead of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025, is currently undergoing rehabilitation at the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru. He is awaiting further updates from the BCCI medical team before resuming his batting and keeping practice.

The Indian selection committee, led by Ajit Agarkar, will announce the squad for the West Indies series on September 24. A 15-member squad will be announced by the selectors.

Dhruv Jurel to be first-choice wicket-keeper batter for India in Rishabh Pant’s absence

The reports also suggested that Dhruv Jurel is expected to be named as first-choice wicket-keeper for the test series against the West Indies while Narayan Jagadeesan from Tamil Nadu, who was named as Pant’s replacement for The Oval test in England, might be picked as the back-up wicket-keeper.

Jurel is currently busy with the unofficial test series against Australia A. In the first unofficial test, the right-handed batsman slammed a marvellous century. He will lead India A in the second unofficial test against Australia A. Moreover, Nitish Kumar Reddy and Devdutt Padikkal are also in the fray to be selected for the home test series against the West Indies.

Padikkal also hammered a century in the first unofficial test against Australia A. Reddy was part of India’s test squad against England, but was ruled out ahead of the fourth test due to a knee injury.

Meanwhile, India and the West Indies will play two tests next month. The first test will begin on October 2 at the Narendra Modi International Cricket Stadium in Ahmedabad. The second test will be played from October 10 to 14 at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi. This will be the second test series for both India and the West Indies in the ongoing ICC World Test Championship (WTC) 2025-27 cycle.

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