Rishabh Pant to miss out on Asia Cup 2025, likely to be on the sidelines for West Indies Tests as well: Report

The Indian team is highly likely to miss Rishabh Pant in Asia Cup 2025 as the wicketkeeeper-batter is currently recovering from a fractured toe that is expected to take a lot of time to fully heal. The 27-year-old didn't keep the wickets for the Men in Blue in the fourth Test and was ruled out of the fifth Test soon after sustaining the serious injury.

During that time, it was reported that Pant will have to rest for six weeks in order to fully recover. However, a report in the Times of India has now claimed that the wicketkeeper-batter is set to miss out on Asia Cup 2025 and is likely to remain on the bench for the two-match West Indies Test series as well. Both the assignments will be held quite close to each other with Asia Cup to be played from September 9 to September 28 and the West Indies series set to begin from October 2.

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“Wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant won’t require surgery after a toe fracture during the fourth Test in Manchester. However, Pant has been ruled out of action for at least six weeks. He will miss the Asia Cup and possibly the West Indies series," the report stated.

In Pant's absence, Dhruv Jurel is likely to keep the wickets for India in the West Indies series. The latter had been called-up to the playing XI after the former had been ruled out of the fifth Test. However, this will still be a major blow for the Men in Blue as unlike Jurel, Pant had been in fine form with the bat before getting injured.

Pant performed brilliantly with the bat against England

Pant had scored two centuries and three half-centuries in the England Test series before he sustained his injury. Even after getting injured, the 27-year-old rejoined the team on the next day and played a heroic knock of 54. He finished the England tour with 479 runs under his belt from 7 innings.

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On the other hand, Pant's absence from India's Asia Cup squad will not be a major issue as he is not the first-choice wicketkeeper for the side in the format. The left-hander had also missed out on the Men in Blue's previous few T20I series with his last appearance in the shortest format coming against Sri Lanka in July, 2024.