London, July 10 (IANS) Dhruv Jurel has stepped up as the Indian wicketkeeper after Rishabh Pant walked off the field due to a left finger injury during day one’s play in the third Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy Test against England at Lord’s on Thursday.

The incident happened in the 34th over when Pant copped a blow to the fingertips on his left hand while attempting to stop a Jasprit Bumrah delivery that was fired down legside against Ollie Pope. Pant, who dived to stop the ball, was visibly grimacing in pain while receiving treatment from physio Kamlesh Jain and even when he got his fingers heavily taped up.

Though Pant stayed on for the rest of the over as the keeper, broadcast visuals showed Jurel sent to do some wicketkeeping drills. Once the over was done, with Root and Pope bringing up half-century of their third wicket partnership, Pant walked off the field for further treatment with Jurel taking up the keeping gloves.

Jurel had been India’s wicketkeeper in three Tests against England in the home series in 2024 and had kept wickets in India A’s games against England Lions before the five-match Test series commenced. Jurel had also kept wickets when Pant suffered an injury to his knee during the Test against New Zealand in Bengaluru in October 2024.

After getting treatment besides the substitute fielders for immense pain in his left hand, Pant went into the dressing room with Jain and visuals showed head coach Gautam Gambhir and batting coach Sitanshu Kotak getting up from their seats in the dressing room balcony to have a look at the wicketkeeper-batter.

Though commentators on air speculated that it could be a fracture, an official update from the Indian team on the injury to Pant is being awaited at the time of writing this story. Pant, India’s vice-captain on the ongoing tour, has scored 342 runs in two Test matches so far at an average of 85.50, including hitting two hundreds in the series opener at Headingley.

–IANS

nr/ab