India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate gave a hint that Rishabh Pant is likely to play as a specialist batter in the fourth Test against England. He suffered a finger injury in the third Test at Lord’s. He picked up the injury on Day 1 at Lord’s and didn’t keep wickets for the remainder of the contest. Dhruv Jurel was called as a substitute wicket-keeper. Pant batted in both innings, scoring 74 and 9.

Ten Doeschate spoke to the media in Beckenham and revealed that Pant will bat, but the decision-makers are being cautious about his fitness.

“He will bat in the practice session in Manchester. You can’t keep him out of the match. He was in a lot of pain in the 3rd Test,” he said.

He mentioned that wicket-keeping is an issue for Pant, and the team wants to avoid a repeat of what happened at Lord’s. “Keeping is the last part of the recovery process. We need to make sure he can keep and we don’t have a situation where we have to replace the keeper halfway through an innings,” he added.

The team is giving Pant time to recover fully. He didn’t take part in Thursday’s training. “He rested today, and we want to give him time to rest his finger. He is in the equation, but if he is fit, he plays the next Test,” he added.