"He was in a lot of pain" - Team India batter opens up on Rishabh Pant's defiant knock on Day 3 of ENG vs IND 2025 3rd Test

Team India opener KL Rahul admitted that Rishabh Pant was in a lot of pain while batting on Day 3 of the Lord's Test against England. He also added that the southpaw was disappointed as his injury limited his stroke-playing ability.

Pant hurt his left index finger while keeping on Day 1 of the Lord's Test. He subsequently left the field, with Dhruv Jurel taking over the gloves. The southpaw came out to bat on Day 2 and was unbeaten on 19 at stumps.

On Day 3 on Saturday, July 12, Pant continued to battle it out for the country. He scored a valiant 74 before being run out by a direct hit from Ben Stokes. The southpaw added 141 for the fourth wicket with opener Rahul (100), who was unbeaten on 53 overnight.

At a press conference following the conclusion of the third day's play at Lord's, Rahul admitted that Pant batted with great determination despite being restricted, and in pain, due to his finger injury. The 33-year-old said:

"He was in a lot of pain gripping the bat. When the ball hits your bat, there's a lot of friction and he got hit on the gloves as well a couple of times, which was not ideal. He kept telling me that he was missing out on a lot of balls that he felt should have gone for boundaries. "He was very disappointed with that. I just had to tell him to weigh his options and see what are the best shots he can score boundaries of rather than getting upset. He seemed pretty calm otherwise. Yeah, he was in pain, but he was more than happy and more than willing to do the job and fight for the team," Rahul added.

Pant hit eight fours and two sixes in his 74 off 112 balls. As for Rahul, he scored 100 off 177 balls, with the aid of three fours. His fine innings ended when he was caught at slip off Shoaib Bashir.

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Rishabh Pant broke MS Dhoni's record during Day 3 of ENG vs IND 2025 3rd Test

Pant has broken a number of records with his batting exploits during the ongoing Test series in England. On Saturday, he surpassed MS Dhoni to become the Indian wicketkeeper-batter with most runs in India vs England Test matches.

Dhoni played 21 Tests against England and scored 1,157 runs. Pant needed 35 runs to go past his mentor's tally. The 27-year-old now has 1,197 runs from 26 innings against England at an average of 47.88.

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Edited by Renin Wilben Albert