Indian wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant has been ruled out of the three-match ODI series against New Zealand after sustaining a side strain during training.
Pant suffered the injury while batting in the nets ahead of Sunday’s series opener at the PCA Stadium in Vadodara.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has confirmed that he has been replaced by Dhruv Jural, who has already joined the squad.
“Pant felt a sudden discomfort in his right abdominal area while batting in the nets during India’s practice session on Saturday afternoon,” the BCCI said in a statement.
“He was immediately taken for an MRI scan, following which the BCCI medical team held detailed discussions with a specialist on his clinical and radiological findings. Pant has been ruled out of the ODI series as he was diagnosed with a lateral strain (oblique muscle tear),” the statement added.
Pant’s absence is unlikely to affect India’s first-choice XI, with KL Rahul the preferred ODI wicketkeeper-batsman in the pecking order ahead of him.
However, the left-hander has enjoyed a solid run, taking Delhi to the quarter-finals of the Vijay Hazare Trophy and scoring two half-centuries in six innings.
Jural, who is yet to make his ODI debut, will act as cover for Rahul. The Uttar Pradesh player has scored six fifties, including two centuries, in his last seven List A innings in domestic cricket.
His selection marks a return to form after a lackluster Test series against South Africa last year.
The ODI series will continue after the first match in Vadodara, with the remaining matches scheduled for January 14 in Rajkot and January 18 in Indore.
The teams will then focus on the five-match T20I series, starting in Nagpur on January 21 and ending in Thiruvananthapuram on January 31, as preparation for the T20 World Cup in India and Sri Lanka in February-March.
Neither Pant nor Jural were included in India’s T20 squad.
Updated India ODI Squad:
Shubman Gill (catch), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, K.L. Rahul (Varam), Shreyas Iyer (VC), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Harshit Rana, Prasith Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Yashshwi Jaiswal and Tuvkru Jaiswal.