Ravi Shastri hails Pant’s ‘miraculous’ recovery: never thought he would play again

Former India coach Ravi Shastri looks back on the time he visited Rishabh Pant in hospital after his accident and calls his recovery a pure ‘miracle’. “Honestly, if you had seen him, you wouldn’t have given him any hope of playing cricket again,” Shastri was quoted by the Australian news portal ahead of BGT.

With T20 World Cup 2024 around the corner, Pant made a comeback to white-ball cricket during the IPL before returning to red-ball cricket through the Duleep Trophy and was also part of India’s recent home Test series against Bangladesh and New Zealand.

“I’ll never forget it. He was in terrible shape. A month after he was injured, I visited him in hospital. He was battered and bruised and had scars all over.

“He had a massive operation and had stitches everywhere. From then on, just recovering and playing cricket was a miracle. To then go on and play in a World Cup-winning team and be part of the Test team is truly remarkable . performance,” he added.

Pant averaged 62 during his two tours of Australia and has been in incredible form since returning to the sport. “He returns to Australia for this tour in form and a man Australia fears, an unthinkable prospect when he was hospitalized and unable to walk,” Shastri said.

“When you speak to him now, the respect he has for the game is even greater. He was nowhere.

“All of a sudden he’s back and he appreciates that. But I’ve seen him work hard over the last few months to get into the shape he is to play Test cricket.” Pant met with a horrific car accident in December 2022 while returning to his hometown Roorkee from New Delhi.

Without some good Samaritans and his presence of mind, who prompted him to smash the windshield of his car, the accident could have been fatal.

“For the first time in my life, I felt like I was letting go. I felt that my time in this world was over,” Pant had told Star Sports.

“When my accident happened, I felt something spiritual saved me. I can’t even imagine how much worse it could have been. Doctors even talked to me about amputation.” Pant was later airlifted to Mumbai where he underwent reconstruction of three knee ligaments.

“I asked the doctor how long it would take for me to recover. He said it would take 16 to 18 months,” Pant said.

“I told the doctor that no matter what timeline he gave me, I would cut six months off.”

(With PTI inputs)