Pant is not fit enough yet, but he gets another chance to prove himself.
Rishabh Pant had been spending his days at the BCCI Centre of Excellence since the last week of October. The wicketkeeper-batsman faced a side strain during the Irani Cup, which has him fitness troubles. Pant is solely playing in the test format for India. He is the part of the squad for the New Zealand test series, and BCCI wants him to join in as soon as he can. Furthermore, in order to prepare him for the upcoming test series, he was also supposed to play in the India A team.
Unfortunately for Pant, his recovery took longer than expected, and he missed the first two test matches of the India A team. Not only that, Pant had failed to clear the fitness test, which would determine his eligibility for the test series against New Zealand. As of now, Pant will get another chance to prove that he is fit enough.
Pant needs to get some action before the real deal begins
The entire setup was made for Pant. His match with the India A team would prepare him for the first test match on November 19. Now that he missed the first two matches of the India A squad, Kumar Kushagra and Dhruv Jurel took his place in the team. The timeline given by BCCI CoE still puts Pant in contention for the third test match between India A and New Zealand A, subject to him clearing his fitness test.
Pant and Jasprit Bumrah were recovering at the CoE together. However, Bumrah has cleared his fitness test and already boarded the flight to New Zealand. The pacer is expected to join the India A team for their third test match. Bumrah was going through the ready-for-play routine at the CoE. Before playing for India A, his last match came during the final of the Asia Cup.
Now all eyes are on Rishabh Pant. Pant is an essential part of the test team. Since it is the only format he plays in currently, his performance and fitness with serve as the evaluation criteria for his eligibility to play in the limited overs format. BCCI representatives recently announced that they were looking forward to bringing him back in the limited overs format. As such, the upcoming series becomes an important proving ground for Pant.