Wicketkeeper-batter for Indian cricket team Rishabh Pant survived a life-threatening car accident in December 2022. After the collision of his car into a divider along the Delhi-Dehradun highway, 26-year old now suffered multiple injuries. Soon after that Pant made an impressive return this year playing for the first time since being injured at the Indian Premier League (IPL). Later he was instrumental during India’s T20 World Cup success in June. Pant will be expected to play an important role like before in the team’s middle-order as they prepare to tour Australia later this year for five Test matches. On A’dora tour, Ricky Ponting has called him “a match winner”.
We’ve all witnessed him play, we have heard him at the stump microphone, he is an engaging individual to have around the squad. His passion for cricket is infectious, and he comes out as a winner. For him it’s not just about batting for a few runs or enjoying the game: he must have already registered four or five Test centuries in his career so far and nearly nine times have been dismissed in the nineties (90s). MS Dhoni who played 120 Tests (90) and scored 3 or 4 centuries (6) makes us realize how good this guy (Pant) can be. Ricky Ponting told Sky Sports that he is serious about cricket.
Ponting was Pant’s mentor at the Delhi Capitals and kept interacting with him through his rehabilitation. Ponting nevertheless praised Pant for returning to cricket sooner than expected despite the psychological and physical hardships he had to endure.
“It’s a truly incredible comeback,” he said. “If you look at his leg even now, and hear how he describes what he faced when he had that crash; just the psychological trauma that comes with it but also the bodily aftermath and rehabilitation process, it was hard for me to believe he would play IPL (2024).”
“But one year ago, before all this happened, he said ‘I’m fine, I assure you I will be fit for IPL. So we thought he could possibly bat in some games as a sub player (Impact Player) but there he was in all our matches leading run scorer keeping position No 3 in T20 World Cup being part of winning team for World Cup and presently part of Test match squad,” he concluded.
