An accident at the age of 25 and very early into your professional cricket career can be very damaging, especially when the accident was so brutal. While driving home from Delhi to Roorkee on the highway, Rishabh Pant's car hit the divider, took numerous tumbles before eventually blowing up in flames and the Indian wicketkeeper-batter thankfully was saved by some of the passersby including a truck driver who saw him getting injured badly.
After several surgeries, multiple and umpteen ways of rehab and recuperation and 14 months later, Pant is back on his feet playing cricket, the thing that he loves the most. However, looking at the bruises and injuries, the recovery period could easily have been two years as per Thulasi Yuvraj, the physiotherapist at the NCA but the staff revealed that the cricketer's gymnastics background helped them reduce the time period.
"The mental strength and confidence inside him made us give our 100 per cent in doing the rehab part for him,"said T Yuvraj in a video on the BCCI website. "The doctors believed that he may take up to two years. Once he came to NCA, it was like a progressive phase for him," he added.
The strength and conditioning coach at the NCA, Nishanta Bordoloi elaborate on how Pant indulging in gymnastics at early age proved to be an asset in his recovery. "One thing was that Rishabh has a background for gymnastic which was a very very big asset for us because there are a few things that come naturally to him," Bordoloi said. "Anytime he would feel he couldn't move, he could tumble or roll over back to his feet again. Which was so much of an added advantage for him," he added.
Pant, on the other hand, admitted that rehab was the most irritating and boring aspect of the last 14 months and thanked the whole NCA staff including former Team India physio to get him where he is at and he can't be happier and more in love with cricket.
"Firstly, rehab is very irritating I would say. The worst thing about the rehab is that you have to do same thing again and again. But at the same time, you have to do it because you don't have any other choice. It gets boring but the more boring you do, the better you get.
"Really confident getting back on the field. I feel so happy when I go to the ground each and every day. I think the love of cricket has gone up rather than going down. I love it more now I used to love it more than anything before but still there is an increase. When I enter the field, I feel the energy of the ground. I just love being on the field man!" added Pant.
Pant will return to playing competitive cricket for Delhi Capitals in IPL 2024 and will be leading the 2020 finalists.
