Kane Williamson, former skipper and New Zealand’s most-experienced batter, is set to miss the second Test against India, starting October 24 in Pune as he is “yet to be 100 percent fit” after sustaining a groin strain.

Williamson did not travel to India with the rest of the BlackCaps squad, after suffering the injury during the tour of Sri Lanka last month, and will continue his rehabilitation back home.

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“We’re monitoring Kane and he’s tracking in the right direction, but isn’t yet 100% fit. We’re hopeful to see further improvement over the coming days and have him available for the third Test. We’ll give him as much time as possible to get himself ready, but certainly continue to take a cautious approach,” New Zealand coach Gary Stead said.

In Williamson’s absence, Will Young batted at No. 3 and scored 33 and 48 not out in the first Test in Bengaluru that the Kiwis won by eight wickets to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match rubber.

New Zealand travelled to Pune on Monday evening and are set to have their first practice session in the city on Tuesday.

Pant, Gill expected to be fit on time for Pune Test

India’s assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate has suggested that both Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant are expected to be available for the second Test, starting Thursday. Shaken by the eight-wicket loss in Bengaluru, India will look to bounce back strongly in Pune and Mumbai, where the third Test will be played from November 1-5, and pocket the series 2-1.

As such, both Shubman and Pant form an important cog in the wheel for India’s prospects. While Shubman missed out of the opening Test due to neck stiffness, Pant hurt his surgically-repaired knee on the second day of the Bengaluru Test, and as a result could not keep wickets for the rest of the match. In his place, Dhruv Jurel donned the big gloves for the rest of the first innings and the 27.4 overs of New Zealand’s second innings.

Pant, however, returned to bat in India’s second innings, scoring a sublime 99. However, in the post-match interaction, India captain Rohit Sharma had called for an “extra careful” approach with respect to Pant’s injury considering the serious knee injuries he sustained in a car crash in December 2022.

“Rishabh’s pretty good. I think Rohit (Sharma) touched on it the other day. He was having a little bit of discomfort at the end range of his movement with the knee. But fingers crossed he’ll be good to keep in this Test as well,” ten Doeschate said.

Sharing Gill’s fitness update, the former Dutch international said, “He’s batted last week in Bangalore, he had a few nets. He’s got a little bit of discomfort, but I’ll think he will be good to go for the Test.”

On Tuesday, during India’s practice session in Pune, Jurel was the first to undergo wicketkeeping drills, while Pant batted at full tilt in the nets against India’s spinners and net bowlers. Pant later kept wickets towards the end of India’s training session.

Ten Doeschate also spoke on India’s ploy of adding the off-spinning all-rounder Washington Sundar into the squad for the remaining two Tests, that are likely to be played on turning wickets of Pune and Mumbai.

Washington’s inclusion not a desperate measure: Ten Doeschate

The Dutch downplayed suggestions of Sundar’s addition to the team that already has the likes of Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav and Axar Patel, as a “desperate measure”after India had been shaken up in Bengaluru.

“Did you say desperate measures? No, definitely not,” he said.

“Look, we’ve obviously got Axar in the squad as well and with four left-handers in their XI, we want the option to take the ball away from the left-handers as well,” he added.

Washington, who last played Test cricket in March 2021, has been in decent form in red-ball cricket. In the second round of the ongoing Ranji Trophy, Washington made 152 from No. 3 and followed it with a match haul of six wickets for Tamil Nadu against Delhi at the Arun Jaitley Stadium. Ten Doeschate believes that the youngster has been rewarded for his consistent show in the domestic circuit.

“We’ve had Washy around the white-ball squad for a while and (we) like the way he operates. And it’s also nice to see guys are getting rewarded for Ranji Trophy performances as well. So hopefully that sends a good message out to the other guys and it’s certainly not a desperate measure,” ten Doeschate said.

“We’ve certainly got a lot of faith in the spinners that we have, and we just want to make sure we’re absolutely prepared for the conditions and if that does mean taking the ball away from the left-hander, we want that option,” he insisted.