India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir showered praise on Rishabh Pant after the fourth Test match against England ended in a draw. On the opening day, Pant was hit on the right foot by Chris Woakes and he was seen wincing in pain.
After the MRI was done, it was revealed that Pant had suffered a fractured toe and was ruled out of the rest of the series. Despite his injury, Pant decided to come out to bat on the second day’s play and added 17 runs to his overnight score of 37.
“The character and foundation of this team will be built on something what Rishabh did for the team and for the country as well. Any amount of praise is not enough for him, especially batting with a broken foot,” Gambhir told reporters on Sunday.
“Not many people have done that in the past. And he (Pant) put his hands up. And that is that is why I say that any amount of praise…I can sit here and talk about this for hours and hours. I think the generations will talk about this and generations ahead should talk about it that there is someone who batted with a broken foot,” he added.
The chief coach is hopeful that Pant can recover quickly from his injury. The left-hander was in terrific form as he scored 479 runs in seven innings at a staggering average of 68.42 in the ongoing Anderson-Tendulkar series.
“It’s unfortunate (Pant being ruled out) because of the kind of form he was in. But again, he’s an important member of the Test side and I hope he recovers quickly and comes back quickly and try and deliver again for us,” Gambhir said.
Gambhir is hopeful that India could make it 2-2 at the Oval after managing a draw at Old Trafford.
“You are asking someone who only believes in results,” Gambhir said. “I’ve said that in the past as well, that I believe in results. We are still 2-1 down in the series. This is the Indian team. Yes, there is an inexperience but this is still the best Indian team right now. So for me, I think we are still down 2-1 and hopefully we can try and make it 2-all. That’s going to be a good achievement.”
The fifth and final Test match between England and India will be played at the Kennington Oval, London, from 31st July onwards.
