Rishabh Pant rested due to knee niggle: Reports

On Tuesday, team India announced their squads for the T20Is and ODIs against Sri Lanka, and one name that was curiously absent from both lists was that of Rishabh Pant. The 25-year-old is the incumbent wicket-keeper batter in both formats, but the squads for the Sri Lanka series saw Ishan Kishan make the cut ahead of him.

Due to no official word on the reason for Pant’s absence, it was being assumed that the southpaw was axed from both squads, but according to reports, Pant has been rested.

According to multiple sources, including Times of India, Rev Sportz and Sports Tak, the wicket-keeper batter has been carrying a niggle in his knee for a while, and has hence been rested from the limited-overs series. 

Pant, it is believed, has been advised to be at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru from January 3 for 15 days to do strengthening on his knee. 

Pant’s absence was one of the main talking points from the squad announcement on Tuesday, the other being the axing of Shikar Dhawan and the removal of KL Rahul as vice-captain. 

Though Pant has registered disappointing numbers in T20Is this year — averaging 21.41 — he’s been exceptional in 50 over cricket for an extended period of time. Pant, since the start of 2021, has averaged 44.63 in ODIs and has struck at 109.11. 

He registered scores of 10 and 15 in the ODIs against New Zealand but it was only an innings prior to that series that he struck his maiden ton in the format, his unbeaten 125* helping India to script a 2-1 series win over the World Champions.