• Source:JND
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India vs West Indies Test Series: India's chief selector Ajit Agarkar shared an update on injured wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant, stating that the swashbuckling batter is close to getting fit and he is hopeful of his availability for the South Africa series in November. 

Pant missed the cut for the upcoming two-match Test series against the West Indies due to a foot injury he sustained during India's fourth Test against England in July at Manchester.

Agarkar, while announcing the Test squad for the series against the West Indies, said Pant won't be part of the Test squad due to insufficient recovery and senior all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja has been named the vice-captain.

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This will be Jadeja's first time serving as vice-captain in Test matches, although he has previously held the same position in ODIs and T20Is.

"Rishabh Pant is the vice-captain at the moment and a key player. But unfortunately, he hasn't quite recovered to make this Test series. Jaddu has been one of the top performers with a lot of experience. So that's essentially the reason," Agarkar said in a press conference on Thursday.

Pant has been undergoing steady rehabilitation and strength and conditioning work on his right foot at the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru. The star batter recently shared a glimpse into his rehab.

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"We are hopeful by the time South Africa comes, he will be 100 per cent fit. I don't know about Pant's injury timeline. I know he's not going to make these two Test matches (against the West Indies) but after that he's very close to getting fit," Agarkar added.

In Pant's absence, Dhruv Jurel and N Jagadeesan are the two specialist wicketkeepers in the squad. Notably, Jurel, currently featuring for India A in the multi-day series against Australia A in Lucknow, was the stand-in keeper in England whenever Pant was unavailable and is expected to be the first choice to stand behind the stumps.