In a major blow to the Indian camp, the star wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant walked off the pitch injured after hurting his knee during the first Test match against New Zealand in Bengaluru on Thursday. Rishabh failed to read Ravindra Jadeja's delivery which landed on his right knee while keeping behind the stumps.
Pant received medical treatment on the field but was not able to continue. He walked off injured with the help of a support staff and seemed in a lot of pain. Dhruv Jurel replaced Pant and donned the wicketkeeping gloves ahead of KL Rahul in the closing stages of Day 2's play in Bengaluru.
Pant, 27, only returned to Tests against Bangladesh after missing an action due to injuries that occurred in his car accident in December 2022. He scored a brilliant century in the opening Test against Bangladesh in Chennai but registered two single-digit scores in the Kanpur Test.
After India's shocking collapse to just 46 runs in the first innings, New Zealand batters dominated Day 2 to take a match-defining 100-plus lead at M Chinnaswamy Stadium. Devon Conway missed out on his century by just nine runs as Indian bowlers struggled to bring India back into the game on Day 2.
Rishabh scored the highest 20 runs off 49 balls as his knock helped India avoid their lowest-ever Test score of 36 occurred against Australia in 2020. Matt Henry picked five wickets and William O'Rourke claimed four to decimate India's star-studded batting unit.
New Zealand Playing XI: Tom Latham (c), Devon Conway, Will Young, Rachin Ravindra, Daryl Mitchell, Tom Blundell (wk), Glenn Phillips, Matt Henry, Tim Southee, Ajaz Patel, William O'Rourke.
India Playing XI: Rohit Sharma (c), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
