Indian wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant injured his right shoulder on Day 2 of the 2nd Test vs Sri Lanka and Dhruv Jurel had to take up the keeping gloves in Colombo.
Published: August 25, 2026, 11:55 AM IST
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Rishabh Pant (right) injured his shoulder on Day 2 of 2nd Test vs Sri Lanka on Monday(Photo: IANS)
India vs Sri Lanka 2026 2nd Test: Team India are well and truly on top after posting over 500 runs in the first innings of the 2nd Test vs Sri Lanka at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) ground in ColomboBut Shubman Gill’s side still have one major cause of concern – the fitness of wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant.
The Delhi Capitals wicketkeeper injured his wrist on Day 1 of the second Test and had to retire hurt at the score of 3Pant came back to bat on the second day and blasted his 21st Test century en route to scoring 63 with two sixes and six fours.
However, unfortunately for the visitors, Pant injured his shoulder after being hit by Lahiru Kumara on Day 2 of the TestHe went on to put on 112 runs for the seventh wicket with centurion Dhruv Jurel but was unable to take up wicketkeeping duties after injuring his shoulder.
Jurel, who remained unbeaten on 115 after Shubman Gill declared the innings at 503 for 9 in the first innings, provided a major update on the fitness of Pant after the second day’s play.
“He has a hit on his right shoulder, and the physio is monitoring him closelyI kept today because he had some pain in his shoulderHopefully, he will be fit tomorrow,” Jurel told the media after the second day’s play on Monday.
Rishabh Pant broke the solar panel with a huge six! pic.twitter.com/JLBDQ8hiTr
— Sam (@cricsam02) August 24, 2026
The Rajasthan Royals wicketkeeper spoke highly of Pant’s influence on his own game and said he regularly seeks advice from the DC wicketkeeper-batterPant took a major salary cut after he was traded from Lucknow Super Giants to DC for Rs 15 crore ahead of IPL 2027 season.
“He is a terrific playerWhat he has done for India, like in Australia and England… so whenever he is in (the playing XI), I only seek advice because he has played so much cricket and he’s got experienceSo I always ask him what I should do now, and it helped a lot,” Jurel said about Pant.
Jurel added that Pant’s aggressive approach makes it easier for him to score runs at the other end“It makes my batting approach easy because when you are getting runs from one end like Pant is playing and playing all the shots, the bowler might think, ‘I don’t want to give runs to him’, so he just tries to make a mistake, and that’s where I get runsSo it’s easy to bat with him,” Jurel added.
Jurel became only the second Indian batter after Hardik Pandya to score a Test century at No7 or lower in Sri LankaHe remained unbeaten on 115 as India declared at 503 for 9, reaching his second Test century in 171 balls with nine foursPandya had scored 108 at Pallekele in 2017.
Earlier, Jurel and Pant had added 112 runs for the seventh wicket, helping India strengthen their position after resuming the day at 300 for 5 on the second dayAfter Pant’s dismissal, Jurel continued to anchor the innings, adding 39 runs with Manav Suthar before partnering Mohammed Siraj to take India from 475 for 8 to 503 for 9.
