Former England captain Nasser Hussain is hopeful that Indian keeper-batter Rishabh Pant will be making a strong comeback in 2024, after his recovery from a car accident he was involved in last year. Hussain described Pant as a “box office” cricketer and expressed his hope that he can be the same player he was before his injury.
Pant (26) had a lucky escape after he was severely injured in a car accident that took place on the morning of December 30, 2022. The stumper’s car collided with a divider on the Delhi-Dehradun highway.
The keeper-batter has made impressive progress during the rehabilitation period. According to reports, he could return to cricket ahead of the 2024 T20 World Cup in USA and the West Indies.
Sharing his thoughts on Pant’s horrific accident and his recovery, Hussain was quoted as saying by the ICC
“That was such a serious accident. The whole world held its breath and it has been a slow recovery. You follow on social media, on my phone and the initial first walking steps to then scenes in the gym and then scenes of him playing a bit of cricket, scenes of him with Ricky (Ponting). I travelled with Ricky in the summer in the Ashes, and Ricky was texting him ‘how’s the progress coming along’, and he is a box office cricketer.”
In Pant’s absence, David Warner captained Delhi Capitals (DC) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 edition. The former attended the mini-auction in Dubai earlier this month, but there are conflicting reports about his availability for IPL 2024.
“They’re lucky to have both of them” – Hussain on Rahul filling in for Pant
With Pant out of action, India backed KL Rahul as their keeper-batter for the ODI World Cup and the latter delivered the goods, smashing 452 runs in the tournament at an average of 75.33. According to Hussain, India are lucky to have both Pant and Rahul.
“India have done well without him (Pant) as KL has come in and been brilliant in all formats. They’ll continue to be brilliant. They’re lucky to have both of them, but Rishabh Pant, before his injury, was box office, and hopefully after his injury, will be box office as well,” the former England captain commented.
Pant has so far played 33 Tests, 30 ODIs and 66 T20Is, scoring 2271, 865 and 987 runs respectively.
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Edited by Renin Wilben Albert