It will take some time for Rishabh Pant to get back to playing, but it would nevertheless count as a fairly quick recovery if he were to do so by January, exactly one year after his near-fatal high-speed vehicle accident on New Year’s Eve. The Asia Cup in September and the World Cup in October-November will therefore be off limits for the wicketkeeper-batter.
People close to Pant say it will take him at least a few weeks to walk independently after he was recently observed using crutches at a Delhi Capitals IPL game at the Arun Jaitley Stadium.
He appears to be recovering more quickly than expected, but it will still be seven to eight months before he is cricket-ready. Despite this, it might take him longer to do the wicketkeeping, and for the first part of his recovery, he will have to focus completely on his strengths as a batter, which are still valuable. After the accident, it wasn’t known if he would ever return to the pitch or even be able to play, but there has been now some optimism regarding the 25-year-old’s comeback to the pitch.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is providing Pant with all available medical support because it is thought that he is displaying a lot of heart in his effort to return to play. Rishabh will receive all the support he requires during this time, the BCCI earlier stated, adding “(it) will make every effort to aid and expedite the recovery process of Rishabh.”
Pant is being treated by Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala, head of the Centre for Sports Medicine and director of the Arthroscopy & Shoulder Service at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital and Medical Research Institute in Mumbai, for ligament tears that required surgery in January. It’s possible that he will have more surgery.
