India cricketer Rishabh Pant is fortunate to have a second life. He survived a life-threatening car crash on December 30 in 2022 while driving from Delhi to Roorkee to meet his family. The cricketer admits of having a feeling that his time was up from this world but feels he is lucky to be alive and has also credited two people - Rajat Kumar and Nishu Kumar - who pulled him out of his SUV before it went up in flames.
In an interview with Star Sports, titled Believe: To Death & Back, that will be aired on the channel on February 1 at 7 PM, Rishabh Pant threw light on his recovery terming it as irritating and frustrating but had no option but to go through it. While now he is expected to play in the 2024 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Pant has shed light on how tough was his recovery.
"I am focusing on recovery cut off from the world. It helps me in recovering fast, especially when the injury is so serious. For recovery you have to do the same thing every day. It's boring, it's irritating, it's frustrating, but you have to do it," he said in the interview conducted in August last year. "Till the time I start playing cricket, I don't want to plan much for the future. I asked the doctor how long will it take for me to recover? I told him that everybody is speaking different things, but you will give me the most clarity about it.
"He said it would take 16 to 18 months. I told the doctor from whatever timeline you give me, I will reduce six months from it," the wicketkeeper-batter added. The 26-year-old, recalling the accident, also said that it was the first time that he felt he wouldn't be alive when the accident took place.
"First time in my life I had that feeling of letting it go. I felt my time in this world was over. It was the first time I had such a feeling in life. At the time of the accident, I was aware of the wounds, but I was lucky as it could have been even more serious," Pant further stated.
