Rishabh Pant ruled out of first two unofficial Tests vs New Zealand A

Wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant has been ruled out of the first two unofficial Tests of India A's upcoming three-match tour of New Zealand. The 29-year-old suffered a left-side strain while leading the Rest of India (RoI) in the recently concluded Irani Trophy in Srinagar and has not recovered yet. He continues to undergo rehabilitation under the supervision of the BCCI medical team, with a decision on his availability for the third match to be taken at a later date.

The development around Pant was expected after the Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) had confirmed last week that he had made himself unavailable for their Ranji Trophy opener against Bengal. Pant could only manage scores of 10 & 8 in the two innings against Jammu & Kashmir in the Irani Trophy before RoI registered a 167-run win.

Jharkhand's emerging wicketkeeper batter, Kumar Kushagra, has been named as Pant's replacement for the first two games.

Kushagra, 21, is an emerging right-handed batter who was a part of the India A squad which hosted Australia A for a three-match unofficial Test series. Kushagra struck a century (113) and backed it up with an unbeaten 46, leading India A to a mammoth 162-run win in the first unofficial Test. He has amassed 2507 runs in 38 first-class games, averaging 42.49, including seven hundreds and six fifties.

India A's updated squad

Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Devdutt Padikkal, Ravichandran Smaran, Dhruv Jurel (C & WK), Washington Sundar, Auqib Nabi, Akash Deep, Anshul Kamboj, Manav Suthar, Mukesh Choudhary, Sai Sudharsan, Yash Rathod, Mukesh Kumar, Kumar Kushagra (WK, first and second matches).

India A tour of New Zealand 2026