Reports: Rishabh Pant likely to miss the upcoming tour of Australia due to weight issues

The Indian team is all set to travel to Australia after the successful completion of IPL 2020 in UAE. The entire team will be boarding a flight from Dubai to Sydney, and the players, including the staff members, will travel in one go. The much-awaited squad for the same will be announced today (October 26) by the national selection committee. Though official fixtures are yet not out, it is assumed that a big squad would be moving to Australia.

The jumbo squad will move with consideration to 6 white-ball matches and four-match Test series that have to be played on the foreign land. The final Indian squad would be out today, and many are expected to miss the big event owing to their present form or injury concerns. However, India wicket-keeper batsman, Rishabh Pant, is going to miss the series due to different issues altogether.

As per the latest reports, India’s fitness trainer had a meeting with Rishabh Pant recently, where he was found overweight. Keeping his fitness in mind, he would not be selected for this big tour. Despite his great form on the field, this factor plays a significant role in the selection, and Delhi’s star is on the back foot in this regard.

“The Indian team fitness trainer had shared his perspective on Pant some days ago, and we believe he’s overweight. Regardless of what’s obvious on the field, the BCCI and the selectors will have to consider the fitness report on Pant before they can pick him. The selectors need to speak to trainer Nick Webb before taking the call,” stated a source as quoted by TOI.

KL Rahul has upper hand over Rishabh Pant in white-ball internationals

Even if he is selected for the Australia series, Rishabh Pant might not to find a place in the playing XI in white-ball internationals with KL Rahul being the first choice wicketkeeper-batsman. However, talking of the Test matches, Rishabh Pant is likely to be preferred over Wriddhiman Saha. He had done well in the previous Test series in Australia and had emerged as the second-highest run-getter for India.

Earlier this year in New Zealand Tests too, the management had picked Pant over Saha. But the move hadn’t worked for the team as the Virat Kohli-led lost the series by 2-0.