Rishabh Pant will be out of action for a while, but if he is back on the field by January, a full year after the near-fatal high-speed car accident he was in on New Year’s Eve, that would be considered a very fast comeback. So, the wicketkeeper-batsman can’t play in the Asia Cup in September or the World Cup in October and November.
Pant was recently seen using crutches during Delhi Capitals IPL games at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, and people who know him say it will take him at least two weeks to be able to walk without them.
Most people think he is getting better faster than expected, but it will still take him seven to eight months to be ready to play cricket again. Still, it could take him even longer to learn how to keep wickets, and his first few games back will be as a batter, which is still seen as an advantage.
At one point after the accident, people wondered if he would ever play again and if he would be able to keep, but there is now some hope that the 25-year-old will be able to play again.
Pant is thought to be very determined to play again, and the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is giving him all the medical help it can. The BCCI had earlier said, “It will do everything it can to help and speed up Rishabh’s recovery and give him all the help he needs during this time.”
Pant had surgery in January to fix torn ligaments. He is now under the care of Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala, head of the Centre for Sports Medicine and director of the Arthroscopy and Shoulder Service at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital and Medical Research Institute in Mumbai. There is a chance that he will need more surgery.
Pant was in a car crash on December 30, 2017, and hasn’t been able to work since. In December, he played for India in a Test match in Bangladesh.
After he gets better at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, we won’t know when he will come back.
