Jagadeesan replaces injured Pant in India's squad for fifth Test vs England after strong domestic run

New Delhi (India) July 28: Rishabh Pant is ruled out of the current test series against England due to a fractured metatarsal. Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper-batter Narayan Jagadeesan replaces him in India's team for the fifth and final Test match against England. 

Pant Suffer Foot Injury

On the first day of the fourth Test at Old Trafford in Manchester, Pant sustained an injury while attempting a reverse sweep off Chris Woakes.

As a result, India has suffers a serious blow ahead of the series final. It will start on July 31 at London's The Oval. Pant is unable to continue the trip because scans revealed a fracture in his right foot. The BCCI Medical Team will keep an eye on his recovery.

The BCCI said, “Rishabh Pant ruled out of fifth Test due to injury; N Jagadeesan named replacement,” in a post on social media platform X. 

Jagadeesan gets first Test call-up

With a lot of first-class experience, 28-year-old Jagadeesan earns his first Test call-up. It happens after he puts up steady performances in domestic cricket. His selection also gives India a second experienced wicketkeeper in the team after Dhruv Jurel.

Jagadeesan scores 3,373 runs at an average of 47.50 from 52 first-class games. It includes 10 hundreds and 14 half-centuries. 

On the other hand Rishabh Pant had scored 479 runs at an average of 68.42 in the current series. It includes two hundreds and three fifties. It makes him India's third-highest run scorer in the current series.

Gambhir praises Pant’s brave knock

Head coach of Team India Gautam Gambhir was full of praise for Rishabh Pant's. He applauds Rishabh’s brave batting performance in Manchester despite having a broken foot. 

Pant left the pitch in intense discomfort after suffering an injury on the first day. On the second day, he came back to the middle to save India and finished his half-century. 

Gambhir said, "Rishabh already, it's been declared that he's out of the series. And one thing I want to say is that the character and the foundation of this team will be built on what Rishabh did for the team and for the country as well."

He added, "Any amount of praise is not enough for him, especially batting with a broken foot. Not many people have done that in the past.”

Pant's absence creates a big hole as India looks to win at The Oval to finish up the five-match ICC World Test Championship series.

India's squad for the fifth Test: Shubman Gill (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Kuldeep Yadav, Anshul Kamboj, Arshdeep Singh and Narayan Jagadeesan (wk).

Aadrika Tayal