India are also hoping to have Pant back in action as their wicket-keeper as they aim to bounce back from the loss in the series opener in Bengaluru.
Pant injured his knee while trying to trip Devon Conway in the 37th over of New Zealand’s innings on the second day of the Test. He failed to collect the ball and was hit. He winced in pain and immediately left the stadium. Dhruv Jurel took Pant’s gloves and kept them for the rest of the innings, giving New Zealand’s second innings 27.4 overs.
Gill missed the Bengaluru Test due to a stiff neck.
“Rishabh is pretty good,” said Ten Doeschate. “I think Rohit (Sharma) touched it last time. There was a bit of discomfort at the end of the knee motion. But fingers crossed, I think he can handle it in this Test as well.”
“He was batting in Bangalore last week and had a few nets,” Ten Doeschate said of Gill. “He has some discomfort, but I think he will be okay to take the test.”
Of course, the team will be wary of taking risks on Pant’s knee due to the serious knee injury he suffered in a car accident in December 2022. Although Pant returned to bat in India’s second innings in Bengaluru and hit 99 off 105 balls, he showed signs of discomfort while running between the wickets. After India lost the Test, skipper Rohit called for an “extra cautious” approach regarding Pant’s injury.
During India’s first practice session in Pune on Tuesday, it was Jurel who was the first to undergo holding drills with Pant watching from the sidelines. Pant then hit a full tilt hit in the net against India’s spinners and net bowlers. Pant also kept his wicket till the end of India’s training session.
Ten Doeschate also revealed that R Ashwin, who batted two overs in New Zealand’s chase of 107 in the first Test, was not injured. Ashwin conceded 94 runs in 16 overs with just one wicket in New Zealand’s first innings in New Zealand’s first innings as Rachin Ravindra and Tim Southee attacked him, but India are not reading too much into this.
Ten Doeschate said, “Ashwin is fine. He is really fine.” “He bowled brilliantly. I know he only bowled twice in the second innings, but his pace and rhythm seemed to be back where they should be.”
With Pune set to roll out a low-bounce black earth pitch that could help spin, India have strengthened their spin stock by calling on off-spin bowling all-rounder Washington Sundar as their fourth spin bowling option after Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel . . Ten Doeschate dismissed the idea that Washington was added to the squad as part of a “desperate measure” after India faltered in Bengaluru.
“Did you say desperate measures? No, absolutely not,” said Ten Doeschate. “Look, we obviously have Axar in the squad and we have four left-handers in the XI, so we want the option to win the ball away from left-handers as well.”
That number could rise to five if New Zealand decide to recall Mitchell Santner to bolster their own spin attack. Washington has not played Test cricket in India since March 2021, but his recent form in red-ball cricket has been encouraging. In the second round of the ongoing Ranji Trophy, Washington were bowled out for 152 for 3, followed by a match haul of six wickets for Tamil Nadu on a fairly flat Delhi pitch. There wasn’t much on offer at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, but Washington kept things tight and even challenged the right-hand batsman’s outside edge with a slight drift.
“We’ve had Washy in our white-ball team for a while and (we) like the way he runs,” Ten Doeschate said. “And it’s good to see players getting rewarded for their Ranji Trophy performances. So hopefully it sends a good message to other players and it’s definitely not a desperate measure. We certainly have a lot of faith in the spinners. “We want to make sure we’re fully prepared for the situation, and if that means taking the ball away from a left-handed pitcher, we want that option.”
