Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra has said that Rishabh Pant playing in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as captain and batter for the Delhi Capitals is “miraculous.” Pant has not played competitive cricket since enduring a horrific car accident back in December 2022.
The star wicketkeeper is now finally all set to make a comeback in IPL 2024. Appreciating the cricketer’s professionalism in making a solid recovery this fast, Chopra said on his YouTube channel, “There are filtered reports that Rishabh Pant will be seen playing in the IPL, which is absolutely phenomenal. It is miraculous, considering where he came from and where he has reached.”
In the same video, Aakash Chopra voiced how Rishabh Pant’s inclusion in the team as a batter can solve some massive problems for the Delhi Capitals. “He will bat and captain. With batting, he solves an extremely important problem for the Delhi Capitals because he can bat slightly down the order as, unfortunately, all their good players are top-order batters,” the cricketer-turned-commentator explained.
Rishabh Pant’s last appearance in a competitive game was on December 22, 2022. In that fixture, India were up against Bangladesh in a Test. Since then, Pant has missed several premier tournaments including the IPL 2023, the World Test Championship and the ICC Cricket World Cup. During his stint at the Delhi Capitals, Pant has scored 2838 runs for the franchise. His best performance in an edition of the tournament came in 2018 when Pant managed to score 684 runs in 14 games.
Rishabh Pant met with an accident while traveling from Delhi to Roorkee in late 2022. It was reported that his car collided with a road divider on the Delhi-Dehradun highway. Pant was initially treated at a local hospital before. Later, he was moved to a private hospital in Dehradun. In January, he was airlifted to Mumbai and was further treated at Kokilaben Dhirubai Ambani Hospital.
Despite his injury and subsequent absence from the game, Rishabh Pant has been present at the Delhi Capitals’ training sessions and even attended their match against Gujarat Titans last season. In his last IPL season, Pant scored 340 runs at an average of 30.91.
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