Rishabh Pant Dedicatedly Practicing in Nets Before Duleep Trophy 2024

New Delhi: Star India wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant has kickstarted his training for the upcoming Duleep Trophy 2024, scheduled to commence on September 5. This tournament will see him making a comeback to red-ball cricket after an absence of over a year.

Rishabh Pant’s last red-ball appearance was in December 2022 against Bangladesh; since then, a severe accident has sidelined him for over a year, causing him to miss key matches including the ICC World Test Championship 2023 and the World Cup 2023.

Rishabh Pant made a successful comeback to the India National Cricket Team during the T20 World Cup 2024, contributing solidly throughout the tournament. He also marked his ODI return in the final match of the three-game series against Sri Lanka.

While Rishabh Pant has successfully returned to T20 and ODI formats, his much-anticipated comeback to Test cricket is still pending. Recognized as his strongest format, Pant has been included in the India B squad for the upcoming Duleep Trophy 2024, which will be crucial for his reentry into the Indian Test team.

In preparation for the Duleep Trophy, Pant shared a video on Instagram showing him training in the nets. The left-handed keeper-batter displayed his sharpness and skill, suggesting he is in excellent form as he gears up for the domestic competition.

A post shared by Rishabh Pant (@rishabpant)

“I try not to have expectations because they can tend to tear you apart. I try to work as hard as I possibly can and give every ounce of a hundred percent & keep learning from it,” Rishabh wrote in the caption of the video.

Rishabh Pant is all geared up and may have an important role in the India National Cricket Team in the coming close Test season comprising 10 matches. The team is scheduled to play five home games against Australia while the rest of the games come against Bangladesh and New Zealand at home.

Pant’s contributions will be particularly vital in the Australian tour. He has always been brilliant whenever he has toured, with the stand-out contributions coming in a century in Sydney during the 2018-19 series and an exceptionally brilliant role in the 2020-21 series. His 97 in Sydney and unbeaten 89 in Gabba proved very crucial in India’s series victory.

Pant may, however, not be an immediate choice as the first keeper with Ishan Kishan, KL Rahul, and Dhruv Jurel all doing enough in his absence. So far, Pant has scored 2,271 runs at an average of 43.67, with five hundreds in 33 Test matches for India.