With his knee heavily strapped, Rishabh Pant comes out to bat to lead India's defense

Cloudy and overcast conditions have returned and it remains to be seen whether Team India will be able to brave the conditions and put up a spirited reply against New Zealand in the ongoing first Test at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Rohit Sharma and Co., who are still behind in the game, will be hoping that they can first erase the deficit in the fourth and final innings of the game and then gain a significant lead to put the visitors under pressure. Before Day 4 began, the question on everyone's mind was whether Rishabh Pant would contest at number 5 or not.

For the uninitiated, Rishabh Pant had suffered a knock on his knee on the second day of the ongoing Test and did not take the field on the following third day. During the tea break on the third day, Rishabh Pant was seen practicing. However, whether he would bat was a question that remained unanswered.

Before the start of the match on the fourth day, Rishabh Pant was seen practicing in the middle and jogging gently. Additionally, his knee was badly strapped. A few minutes later, to everyone's delight, Rishabh Pant was seen walking into the middle alongside night batsman Sarfaraz Khan.

Talking about Rishabh Pant, the wicketkeeper-batter did not take the field on the third day and substitute Dhruv Jurel handled the wicketkeeping duties.

BCCI provides medical update on Rishabh Pant

On the third day of the ongoing Test, the BCCI had also provided an update on Pant and said that the wicketkeeper-batsman would not take the field on the third day as the BCCI medical team is monitoring his progress.

Earlier, India captain Rohit Sharma had also confirmed that Rishabh Pant had suffered a blow to the same knee that underwent surgery last year after the wicketkeeper was involved in a horrific car accident.

In the first innings, Rishabh Pant was the top run-scorer for Team India as the hosts scored just 46 runs, their lowest total at home. The left-handed batsman played a knock of 20 runs.

Coming back to the ongoing Test, Sarfaraz Khan and Rishabh Pant started Day 4 confidently. Earlier, New Zealand had a lead of 356 runs thanks to a century from Rachin Ravindra. Devon Conway and Tim Southee also scored half-centuries for the Kiwis.