Rishabh Pant gave India an injury scare on the opening day of the Lord's Test. He grimaced in pain after diving to his left to stop a delivery. With Pant unable to continue as wicketkeeper, Dhruv Jurel came in to don the gloves for the remainder of the match. Ahead of the fourth Test, to be played at Old Trafford in Manchester, the big question is whether Pant will be fit to play the crucial match - especially with India trailing 1-2 in the Test series after a 22-run loss at Lord's.

After the end of the third Test on Monday, captain Shubman Gill gave an update on his deputy's injury status during the post-match press conference and said, "Rishabh went for scans. There is no major injury so he should be fine for fourth Test in Manchester." The fourth Test is scheduled to take place from July 23 to 27.

While keeping wicket, Pant managed to stop a wayward delivery from Jasprit Bumrah that went down the leg side in the 34th over of England's first innings during the second session. The game was stopped briefly as Pant required medical attention from the Indian support staff, but he kept waving his hands at the dressing room when play resumed. Eventually, Pant left the field after the end of Bumrah’s over.

“Team India vice-captain Rishabh Pant got hit on his left index finger. He is receiving treatment at the moment and is under the supervision of the medical team. Dhruv Jurel is currently keeping wickets in Rishabh’s absence,” the BCCI had said.

Meanwhile, another pressing question ahead of the Manchester Test is whether Bumrah will be available for selection. The fourth Test starts in nine days.

Despite the defeat, Gill was happy with his team’s performance and said a couple of 50-plus partnerships could have taken India past the 193-run target set by England.

“Extremely proud - it was as close a Test match as it can get, played over five days and comes down to the last session. I was pretty confident of our chances with plenty of batting left. We needed a couple of 50-run partnerships but we weren’t able to get that,” Gill said during the post-match prize distribution ceremony.