India have been dealt a major blow ahead of the New Zealand ODI series with Rishabh Pant officially ruled out after suffering an oblique muscle tear during a practice session in Vadodara. The 28-year-old wicketkeeper-batter picked up the injury on Saturday while batting against throwdowns at the BCA Ground B, just a day before the series opener.
Pant had only just joined the Indian squad after leading Delhi in the Vijay Hazare Trophy (VHT) and was keen to sharpen his match readiness. But his long batting session ended abruptly when he was struck just above the waist, near the ribs, by a delivery from a throwdown specialist. He was immediately attended to by the support staff, including head coach Gautam Gambhir, and walked off the field grimacing in pain, unable to continue.
IND vs NZ: Rishabh Pant gets injured
Medical assessments later confirmed the worst. “He has been diagnosed with a right-sided strain with internal oblique muscle tear, and has thus been ruled out of the forthcoming ODI series against New Zealand,” a source told The Times of India. The report also mentions that the BCCI will now look to announce a replacement as well. If they do, Dhruv Jurel remains the best option, as he is in a tremendous form in the ongoing VHT and deserves to be in the team.
While KL Rahul remains India’s first-choice wicketkeeper in ODIs, Pant’s absence removes a powerful left-handed option from the middle order. Pant has borne the brunt of several injuries throughout his career. It is nothing against the car accident he had in December 2022. Also, he had only recently returned from a toe fracture suffered during the fourth Test against England at Manchester and made his competitive comeback during the home series against South Africa.
In the ongoing domestic season, Pant had looked in solid touch, scoring back-to-back half-centuries for Delhi against Services and Railways in the Vijay Hazare Trophy. Though he was part of India’s victorious Champions Trophy squad in 2025, he did not feature in a single match. The series begins on Sunday at the Baroda Cricket Association Stadium, the venue’s first men’s international fixture. The teams then move to Rajkot on January 14 before concluding the series in Indore on January 18.
India’s ODI squad for New Zealand series
Shubman Gill (c), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (wk), Shreyas Iyer (vc), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi
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