He had a disappointing IPL 2025 season.
India Test vice-captain, Rishabh Pant, expressed his frustration over his plastered foot via an Instagram story on Wednesday, August 14. Pant was hit on his left foot on Day 1 of the Old Trafford Test against England. India, under a new leadership combination, delivered an exceptional performance across all five Tests that are already being rated among the greatest of the century. The series was drawn 2-2.
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Singapore Womens beat Cambodia Women by 114 runs
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Singapore Womens won by 8 wickets
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Sir Oliver Split beat Zagreb Warriors by 8 wickets
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Zagreb Assassins beat Zagreb Sokol by 10 wickets
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76/4
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46/1
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Match Abandoned due to rain
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224/4
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After the retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, there was a lot of pressure on India’s Test regulars like captain Shubman Gill, KL Rahul, and Pant. While Gill and Rahul racked up a plethora of runs, Pant’s performance felt equally special. He batted despite injury, not once but twice. The left-hand batter amassed 479 runs in seven innings, averaging 68.42 with three fifties and a couple of hundreds. Pant was India’s fourth-leading run-getter in the series.
The 27-year-old was seen with immediate discomfort after a blow and had to be taken off the field on a golf cart. Later in the day, India’s medical team clarified that the wicket-keeper would need six weeks of rest. However, they also mentioned that if need be, Pant will come out to bat.
“I hate this sooo much,” wrote Pant in his story, posting a picture of his plastered foot.
Pant, who had scored 37 runs, retiring hurt, came out to bat after Shardul Thakur’s dismissal in the fourth Test, hobbling his way down the steps. The Old Trafford crowd gave a standing ovation to him for his courageous effort. He went on to score a fifty in style, with a boundary through the covers. Pant ended up scoring 54 off 75 balls, his third fifty of the series.
Notably, Pant had suffered a finger injury in the Lord’s Test in England’s first innings and didn’t keep wickets in the remainder of the match but batted in both innings. Dhruv Jurel donned the gloves in both Tests.
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India head coach Gautam Gambhir praised Rishabh Pant after the match.
“Not many people have done that in the past, and he had put his hand up and that is why I say it. Any amount of praise [is not enough]. I can sit here and talk about this for hours and hours. I think the generations to come forward will talk about this, and generations coming forward should talk about it that there is someone who’s batted with a broken foot. It’s unfortunate because of the kind of form he was in, but again, he’s an important member of the Test side, and I hope he recovers quickly and comes back quickly and tries and delivers again for us,” said Gambhir in a video posted by BCCI.
Pant had a disappointing IPL 2025 season until the last group stage game, where the Lucknow Super Giants skipper smashed a swashbuckling hundred. He carried the form in the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025, scoring two hundreds across two innings of the first Test.
Pant made a few significant contributions in the series and added a few records in his name. He became India’s leading run-scorer in the World Test Championship (WTC). He has collected 2,731 runs at a stunning average of 43.34, despite being away from the game for 18 months. The previous record was held by Rohit Sharma (2,716).
Playing a doggy 54 in Manchester, Pant became the wicketkeeper-batter with most runs in a bilateral Test series in England, surpassing Alec Stewart, who scored 465 against South Africa in 1998. The southpaw now also holds the record for most 50+ scores in a Test series by an Indian wicketkeeper (five). He overtook MS Dhoni and Farokh Engineer (four each) in the list. Furthermore, he also surpassed MS Dhoni (six) to become the Indian wicketkeeper with the most Test hundreds (seven).