MANCHESTER: India captain Shubman Gill on Tuesday confirmed Rishabh Pant’s participation as wicketkeeper in the crucial fourth Test against England starting here from Wednesday but pacer Akash Deep will miss out.

The development surrounding Pant is a boost for India after key players like all-rounder Nitish Reddy, Arshdeep Singh and Akash have suffered injuries of varying intensity.

Reddy has now been ruled out of the remainder of the series, while Akash, who appeared to have been struggling with his hip during the Lord’s Test, will now sit out of the Old Trafford Test.

Pant, who had suffered a finger injury at the Lord’s, underwent a training session here that lasted over two hours on Monday.

“Rishabh Pant will keep wickets in the fourth Test against England in Manchester,” Gill said on the eve of the match.

Pant played as the wicketkeeper only for 35 overs in the third Test due to the injury with Dhruv Jurel doing the duty for the rest of the match.

In fact, Jurel had an underwhelming time behind the stumps during England’s second innings, conceding 25 byes and the home side won the third Test by 22 runs.