Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and flamboyant wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant must remain injury-free and in top form if India are to achieve a historic hat-trick of series wins Down Under, said former Australia captain Ian Chappell. One of the most respected voices in world cricket, Chappell feels that five Test matches, including three against New Zealand, is just the ideal build up that Indian team needed before the most high-profile bilateral series in this cycle of the World Test Championship. "...India's priority will be to get as many players as possible into form without suffering major injuries. However, the most pressing matters are to achieve those aims with Jasprit Bumrah and Rishabh Pant," Chappell wrote in his column for ESPN Cricinfo. "Pant's ability to bounce back onto the Test scene is quite remarkable given his horrific car accident. He is a crucial wicketkeeper-batter in the Indian line-up and he'd give the team a major boost if he's at the peak of his powers for
Bangladesh started the match on top in the first two sessions of the game, but Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja led India's fightback to keep their winning streak against the former intact
Rohit Sharma, in the post-match conference, said that everyone in the team was looking for Pant's return, given how special a talent the southpaw is
When Rishabh Pant called up his coach Devender Sharma ahead of his much-anticipated Test comeback, the flamboyant and gritty batter got one advice: 'Head down kar ke khelnaa'. It was a note of caution about respecting the good balls. With a scintillating hundred in his comeback Test, Pant has reaffirmed his status as one of the most important players in the traditional format. "Obviously I am very happy for Rishabh. In fact, he could have got a hundred in the first innings also and I was a bit sad that he didn't get that," Devendra, who has mentored Pant since his pre-teen days at the iconic Sonnet Club told PTI after the end of third day's play. "But today he was flawless. This hundred is an important innings for him as it's his first international ton since comeback." Pant has now equalled MS Dhoni with most number of Test hundreds (6) and that too in his 34th red ball international game compared to 90 played by the former India captain. Add to it, more than half a dozen knocks
Pant's 124-ball hundred came at the time when India were extending their lead on day 3 of the Test. His century included his trademark hitting as well which was greeted by the Chepauk crowd as well.
India will be the favourites to win the series with the return of match-winners like Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, and Rishabh Pant in the squad
After suffering a life-threatening road accident in 2022, Pant returned to action with the IPL 2024, playing for Delhi Capitals, and made his international return during the 2024 ICC T20 World Cup
Majority of the players picked in the India squad for the first Test against Bangladesh, including Rishabh Pant, K L Rahul and Shubman Gill, were on Tuesday rested for the second round of Duleep Trophy beginning here on September 12. The others picked in the national squad on Sunday include Akash Deep, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Dhruv Jurel, who all have been exempted from the second round. Left-arm pacer Yash Dayal and Sarfaraz Khan, who too are part of India's 16-man squad for the opening Test, have not been released from their Duleep Trophy duties indicating they won't be part of the playing eleven against Bangladesh in the game to be played in Chennai. "The selectors have named Pratham Singh (Railways) as a replacement for Gill, Akshay Wadkar (Vidarbha CA) as a replacement for KL Rahul and SK Rasheed (Andhra CA) as a replacement for Jurel," said the BCCI in a statement. "Left-arm spinner Shams Mulani will replace Kuldeep in the squad whereas Aaqib Khan (UPC
Former India captain Sourav Ganguly believes Rishabh Pant is on course to become an all-time great in Test cricket but at the same time, the southpaw needs to raise his game in the shorter formats. Pant on Sunday returned to the Test side for the first time since his life-threatening car accident in December 2022. He is expected to the start the first Test against Bangladesh beginning in Chennai on September 19. Since his return earlier this year following the accident, Pant has played T20s and ODIs and has done well. "I consider Rishabh Pant one of India's best Test batsmen. I'm not surprised that he's back in the side, and he will continue to play for India in Tests," Ganguly said at a promotional event here. "He will be an all-time great in Tests if he keeps performing like this. For me, he needs to get better in the shorter formats. With the talent he has, I'm sure with time, he will become one of the best." Indian selectors have opted to give Mohammed Shami more time to recov
The outstanding performances of Musheer Khan and Manav Suthar were instrumental in securing victories for their respective teams in the first-round matches
Rishabh Pant on Sunday returned to the Test side after nearly 20 months as India announced their 16-man squad for the opening match of the two-Test series against Bangladesh starting on September 19. Virat Kohli also made a comeback having missed the five-Test series against England at home earlier this year for having taken a break for the birth of his second child. While fast bowler Mohammed Shami remains on a comeback trail and was not included in the squad, uncapped left-arm Uttar Pradesh fast bowler Yash Dayal received his maiden Test call-up. India pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, who was last seen in national colours during the T20 World Cup, returned to the squad and he is expected to play a couple of more Tests against New Zealand in October-November, before the team flies out to Australia for a five-Test series. Bumrah is perhaps the only player apart from Kohli and skipper Rohit Sharma to have been given freedom to choose as per the workload requirement and how his body ..
'Captain Cool' MS Dhoni, now retired from international cricket and seen only in the IPL, was the second-highest taxpayer among cricketers
Senior stars including skipper Rohit Sharma, premier batter Virat Kohli, pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah and leading spinner R Ashwin received exemptions as the national selectors struck a fine balance between domestic performers and potential talent while picking up four squads for the Duleep Trophy starting September 5 in Bengaluru. The tournament will feature international stars such as Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, leading all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav and pacer Mohammed Siraj. T20 captain Suryakumar Yadav, who had played one Test against Australia in 2023 has also been picked. Apart from Surya, the others have confirmed slot in the team. Wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant, who was part of India's T20 World Cup winning team, will also be featuring in the tournament, making it his first red-ball assignment after coming back from that horrific car accident in 2022. Also back in business will be another left-handed keeper Ishan Kishan, who was remove
Regular test players of India will be taking part in the 17th edition of Duleep Trophy as per BCCI's orders
The Indian Cricket team will start their new era of T20I cricket under coach Gautam Gambhir and skipper Suryakumar Yadav with the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka.
New India head coach Gautam Gambhir will have the onerous task of choosing between Rishabh Pant and Sanju Samson during the three-match T20I series against Sri Lanka starting from Saturday. While most of the key stars of the T20 World Cup winning side sans the retiring duo of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli are in the Island nation, the choice between two flamboyant wicketkeeper batters Pant and Samson won't be an easy one. Worse, even with two slots vacant, one can't fit in both the hard-hitting batters. Pant with 171 runs was the third highest run-getter for India in the T20 World Cup in the Americas but Samson, though was part of the team, didn't get into any game. A bilateral series against Sri Lanka, of late, has become a low-stakes affair with the two countries often engaged in inconsequential series, some of which India plays to help other international cricket boards stay afloat. One such series was supposed to be the upcoming one against Sri Lanka but it has assumed greater .
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called up Rishabh Pant's mother when the star wicketkeeper-batter was recuperating from his injuries after a car crash and had told doctors to treat him abroad if required. During an interaction with the T20 World Cup-winning cricketers here on Thursday, the PM said he followed the social media posts of Pant, showing his rehabilitation routine. Pant survived a horrific car crash while driving from Delhi to his hometown Roorkee in December 2022. After a year of intense recovery and rehabilitation, he returned to professional cricket during the Indian Premier League 2024 and made his India return in the just-concluded T20 World Cup in the Americas, which India won by beating South Africa in the final in Barbados. "Your journey of recovery was difficult. I used to see your (social media) posts, showing you have done this much on this day and this much the next day," the PM said. The details of the conversation was released on Friday. "First I had ...
Rishabh Pant's comparison with Adam Gilchrist would be pre-mature at this stage but the India wicket-keeper batter can certainly get close to the Australian great's records if he can maintain his current form, reckons former New Zealand international Ian Smith. Himself a wicket-keeper batter, Smith is impressed with what Pant has done since his comeback from a horrific car accident. He had a good IPL and has now carried that form into the T20 World Cup. Pant is among the most exciting talents in the game, having already logged Test hundreds in Australia, England and South Africa, something even his mentor M S Dhoni could not achieve. However, Pant has a long way to go when compared with Gilchrist, who amassed more than 15000 runs in international cricket besides taking more than 800 catches behind the stumps. Rishabh Pant since his accident has come back very strong and he looks in terrific form. He is dynamic. He's aggressive, he's dangerous, said Smith, who has now become one of t
Lauding India's group stage performance in the T20 World Cup, former off-spinner Harbhajan Singh said Hardik Pandya's better-than-expected bowling show and Rishabh Pant's good run at the number three position are some of the biggest positives to be drawn from the campaign so far. India are through to the Super Eight stage after going undefeated in their group league matches. Rohit Sharma and his men defeated Ireland, Pakistan, and USA before their last league game against Canada was called off due to a wet outfield in Florida. "The biggest positive is that Hardik Pandya took the wicket. He was the fourth bowler in this tournament. But if you look at his wicket tally, he has done much better than what was expected of him," Harbhajan said on 'Star Sports'. Pandya, who came into the World Cup after a horror run in the IPL, has so far snared seven wickets and has bowled full tilt, quelling any apprehensions surrounding his fitness. Pant, who is making his international return after ..
India will continue with wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant at No. 3 in the T20 World Cup following his gritty performance against Ireland, said batting coach Vikram Rathour, who also expressed his delight at having a fully-fit Hardik Pandya back in the fold. Both Pant and Pandya, who returned to top-flight cricket in the IPL, are making a comeback to international cricket after a long gap. The duo delivered the goods in India's eight-wicket thrashing of Ireland in their opening game here on Wednesday. On a challenging pitch with uneven bounce, run-scoring was difficult but Pant unleashed a few stunning shots, including a reverse-scoop over the Irish wicket-keeper's head for a match-winning six in his unbeaten 36. The Ireland match was Pant's first game for India since December 2022 when he was involved in a horrific car accident. "Yes, he has been batting really well. The two games (warm-up and Ireland) he has played, he has looked really, really good," Rathour told the media after