India's Tour of England, 2025: The Indian team has suffered a major setback before the fifth Test. Star wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant is out of this match. He has been ruled out of the match starting on 31 July due to injury. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said that N Jagadeesan has been included in the team in place of Pant.
Rishabh Pant has been ruled out of the fifth and final Test of the series due to a fracture in his right foot during the fourth Test against England in Manchester. The BCCI medical team will monitor his progress. The men's selection committee has included Narayan Jagadeeshan in the squad in place of Rishabh Pant for the fifth Test starting on July 31 at Kennington Oval in London.
When Pant retired hurt on the first day, he had scored 37 runs. Given the severity of his injury, it seemed that he might not come out to bat again. However, Rishabh Pant showed his spirit and decided to bat despite being injured on the second day (July 24, 2025). He limped to the field in pain and one of his shoes was specially made thicker and larger to support the injury. The English bowlers, especially Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer, tried to target his injured leg, repeatedly bowling yorkers, but Pant batted sensibly.
Even in this difficult situation, Pant hit a brilliant half-century and scored 54 runs in 75 balls with the help of 3 fours and 2 sixes. This was his 18th half-century of his Test career. During this innings, he also equaled Virender Sehwag's Indian record of hitting the most 90 sixes in Test cricket. Eventually, Jofra Archer bowled him out on a personal score of 54 runs. His courageous innings garnered a lot of praise in the cricket world.
The injury to Pant comes as a major blow to India, with the 27-year-old having been one of their key contributors with the bat. With 479 runs at an average of 68.42, Pant is India's third-highest run-getter in the ongoing series. This includes two centuries and three half-centuries.
Pant’s Replacement N Jagadeesan
The wicketkeeper batsman who has got a place in Team India in place of Pant is N Jagadeesan. Born on 24 December 1995 in Tamil Nadu, Jagadeesan has not yet made his debut for India. However, he has made a splash in domestic cricket. The 29-year-old batsman has 3373 runs in 52 first class matches. In this, he has scored 10 centuries and 14 half-centuries. At the same time, Jagadeesan has scored 2728 runs in 64 List A matches and 1475 runs in 66 T20 matches. The right-handed batsman has played for Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL. He has 162 runs in his name in 13 matches played in the IPL.
Fourth Test Ends in a Draw
On the basis of centuries by Shubman Gill, Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar, India drew the fourth Test match played against England. In this match, after losing the toss and batting first, the Indian team scored 358 runs on the basis of half-century innings of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sai Sudarshan and Rishabh Pant. In the first innings, England scored 669 runs for 10 wickets and took a lead of 311 runs. After this, India scored 425 runs for four wickets in the second innings and ended the match in a draw. England is still ahead 1-2 in this five-match series. The last match of the current series will be played at The Oval from July 31.
India’s Updated Squad for 5th Test: Shubman Gill (C), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Kuldeep Yadav, Anshul Kamboj, Arshdeep Singh, N Jagadeesan (WK).
