Bengaluru, Oct 20 India captain Rohit Sharma confirmed that Rishabh Pant not taking the field in the second innings against New Zealand was a precautionary move after he was hit on the right knee which went under the knife following his fatal car crash. Rohit added that it was done to make him ready for the next match.
Pant was hit on the right knee cap in New Zealand's first innings while keeping wickets off Ravindra Jadeja's delivery. In his absence, Dhruv Jurel did behind the stumps duty for the remaining part of the match. However, Pant came in to bat in the second innings and played a crucial 99-run knock and was also involved in a 177-run partnership with centurion Sarafaraz Khan (150) on Saturday.
“It’s just to be a little careful about where he is at and what he is to us. Even when he was batting, he was not comfortably running. He was trying to only put the ball in the stands. But, again, with someone like him, we just need to be extra careful because he has had a lot of minor surgeries, one big surgery on his knee. And he went through a lot of trauma, to be honest, in the last one and a half years. So, it’s just about being extra careful," Rohit said in the post-match press conference after the eight-wicket loss in the first Test.
"So, when you are keeping, you have to bend every ball with your knee going down. And the wicket being what it was, we thought it was the right thing to do for him to stay inside and then get 100% ready for the next one,” he added.
Rohit acknowledged Pant's free-flowing batting approach and said he bats according to him and no one knows what's going in his mind. He has produced results with his fearless knocks so team management wants to give him the freedom to play his own game.
"Like I said about his innings, no one knows what goes in his mind, to be honest. He decides what he wants to do. And that is the kind of freedom we also want to give to him. Because he has produced performances with that mindset. So, I don’t think there is anything that you need to say to him," Rohit said.
"We spoke to him about, please understand the situation and stuff like that. But, you know, that’s Rishabh. He wants to play in a certain way. And then, you know, as a captain, as a coach, we want to back that. Because, like I said, he has produced results for us, you know, having that mindset. So, let him go and play freely," he added.
The second Test between India and New Zealand will be played in Pune from October 24.
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