India's wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant who is on the sidelines due to a fractured foot suffered on England tour, had a hilarious message for England's Chris Woakes who announced his retirement from international cricket on September 29. Woakes made the decision to retire as he wasn’t part of the Ashes squad on Australia soil following a dislocated shoulder in the fifth Test against India. Pant wished Woakes well and asked him to rest his bowling arm as he injured his right foot with a yorker in the Manchester Test.
"Happy Retirement Woakesy. You have been amazing on the field. Lots of discipline, a big smile and always good vibes. Now you can finally give that bowling arm a rest and my foot too. You definitely left a mark on me before retirement. Wishing you a fantastic journey ahead in whatever you choose," Pant wrote on social media.
Pant suffered a fractured foot as he attempted to reverse sweep a full delivery from Woakes. Despite the injury, Pant returned to field and added valuable runs in the second innings. Meanwhile, Woakes got injured while saving a boundary. Like Pant, he walked out to bat when his team needed it the most. But he could not guide his team to victory as Mohammed Siraj dismissed Gus Atkinson to win the fifth Test by six runs to level the series 2-2.
"I saw Rishabh Pant put an image of me on Instagram with a salute emoji, so I replied thanking him: 'Appreciate the love and hope the foot is OK,' etch - He then sent me a voice note saying: 'I hope all is OK, good luch with the recovery and I hope we meet again out there some day.' I obviously said sorry for the broken foot," Woakes had revealed his conversation with Pant via The Guardian.
Who is Pant’s replacement?
After the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy 2025, he was ruled out of the T20 Asia Cup 2025. In his place, Jitesh Sharma was named as the back-up wicketkeeper. Later, he was ruled out of the two-Test series at home against West Indies which is scheduled to start on October 2. He is yet to recover from the foot injury. In his place, Dhruv Jurel will walk into the playing eleven and Narayan Jagadeesan will retain his spot in the Test squad as back-up wicketkeeper.
Pant doubtful for Australia tour, expected to be back for South Africa series
The southpaw is doubtful for the limited overs tour against Australia. He is expected to miss the three-ODI series which will commence on October 19. It is followed by the T20I series, starting October 29. However, India will be hoping that Pant makes a comeback for the home series against South Africa starting on November 14, featuring two Tests, three ODIs and five T20Is.