Rishabh Pant diagnosed with oblique muscle tear; India wicketkeeper-batter's painful moments caught on camera; watch

Rishabh Pant, on Sunday, has been ruled out of the upcoming three-match ODI series against New Zealand after the India wicketkeeper suffered an oblique muscle tear. Pant got injured while batting at the nets during India's practice session on the even of the first match at the BCA Stadium in Vadodara. Rajkot and Indore will host the remaining two games.

While the report of Pant being ruled out came on Saturday, the BCCI confirmed the news on Sunday and named Dhruv Jurel as his replacement. KL Rahul is already in the side as the first-choice wicketkeeper for the ODI series. The last time Pant played an ODI for India was in 2024. In fact, it was Pant's first ODI since his comeback from 2022 car accident.

What happened to Rishabh Pant?

Pant felt a sudden discomfort in his right lateral abdominal area while batting. In a video that went viral on social media, Pant felt the pain while he was facing the throwdowns from Raghavendra Dwivedi (Team India's throwdown specialist).

The 28-year-old felt a sudden pain and went down on one knee. Although he got up and tried to walk a little, but the pain aggravated, forcing Pant to limp before the medical rushed to him. The wicketkeeper-batter was immediately taken for MRI scans with the BCCI medical team having a detailed discussion with an expert on his clinical and radiological findings.

It was found out that Pant was diagnosed with an oblique muscle tear.

How long will it take for Rishabh Pant to heal?

Oblique muscle tear occurs when the abdominal muscles get overstretched or torn while twisting the torso. The abdominal muscles help in twisting and bending of a torso. There are three grades of this injury.

While a Grade 1 (mild) injury will take two to four weeks to heal typically. However, a moderate tear (Grade 2) often takes two months to recover. The Grade 3 (severe) tear may potentially take more than two months to heal and may also require a surgery.

India's updated ODI squad against NZ

Shubman Gill (C), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul (WK), Shreyas Iyer (VC), Washington Sundar, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohd Siraj, Harshit Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Kuldeep Yadav, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Arshdeep Singh, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (WK).