New Delhi, 
 In a major boost for the Indian team, wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant has departed for New Zealand and is expected to join the Indian Test squad in Wellington on Friday.According to information received by IANS, Pant left for New Zealand on Thursday morning after completing an extensive rehabilitation programme at the Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru. He was cleared to travel following approval from the medical team.A source told IANS, "He (Pant) left for New Zealand this morning and will reach there via a connecting flight from Singapore. It is understood that he has already departed from Singapore as well. He is expected to arrive in Wellington early in the morning, New Zealand time, which will be in the early hours of the day according to Indian Standard Time."Pant suffered a side strain during the Irani Cup, held in Srinagar from October 1 to 4, while captaining the Rest of India side. In the last week of October, he reported to the BCCI's Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, where he focused on his recovery and worked on different aspects of his game through several training sessions.Pant was named in India's Test squad for the New Zealand tour as well as the India A squad for three four-day matches against New Zealand A. However, his participation was entirely dependent on his fitness, which remained a major uncertainty.Although Pant's recovery was progressing well, it took longer than expected, delaying his fitness clearance. As a result, he missed the first two matches of the India A series. Initially, he was expected to feature in the third match, scheduled to be played in Lincoln from November 7 to 10, but continued recovery work forced him to miss that fixture as well.In Wellington, Pant will join captain Shubman Gill, KL Rahul and Anshul Kamboj. These players were released from the ODI squad after the third One-Day International to begin preparations for the two-match Test series.However, Pant's return has presented the team management with a fresh selection challenge. Wicketkeeper-batter Dhruv Jurel has made a strong case for a place in the playing XI with an impressive performance against New Zealand A, scoring a century and a half-century in four innings.Apart from Jurel, top-order batters B. Sai Sudharsan and Devdutt Padikkal have also been in excellent form. Sudharsan scored 91 and 88 runs in his five innings for India A, while Padikkal produced outstanding knocks of 199 and 80 runs in the same number of innings.The Test series, scheduled to be played in Wellington and Christchurch, is extremely important for Shubman Gill and his team.India currently occupies fourth place in the World Test Championship (WTC) standings and needs victories to remain in contention for the final, scheduled to be held in June 2027.New Zealand, the inaugural WTC champions in 2021, currently sits at the top of the standings, ahead of defending champions South Africa and 2023 winners Australia.