Indian wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant is set to return to competitive cricket for the first time in 14 months since his life-threatening car accident on the Delhi-Dehradun highway when he was returning home to Roorkee. Pant suffered several injuries and bruises and required multiple surgeries on knee ligaments. After close to a year and a half, Pant has been declared fit by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the 26-year-old is set to continue as captain of Delhi Capitals in the 2024 edition of the IPL.
"After undergoing an extensive 14-month rehab and recovery process, following a life-threatening road mishap on December 30th, 2022, near Roorkee, Uttarakhand, Rishabh Pant has now been declared fit as a wicket-keeper batter for the upcoming TATA IPL 2024," the BCCI said in a release.
Pant underwent several rounds of rehab and recovery and stimulations to firstly get fully fit before beginning the cricket training a couple of weeks ago including running, warm-up and skill training including wicket-keeping and batting.
Pant's availability will be delightful news for the Capitals, who struggled to string wins together in last year's IPL. The Capitals struggled with their batting in IPL 2023 and Pant's availability coupled with the addition of Harry Brook and pace-bowling all-rounder Sumit Kumar in the auction, gives a better look to the team than the last year. If Anrich Nortje is fit and raring to go with the rest of the bowling attack already solid, the Capitals could be in for a better outing this year.
Delhi Capitals IPL 2024 squad: Rishabh Pant(w/c), Axar Patel, Prithvi Shaw, Yash Dhull, Lalit Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Pravin Dubey, Khaleel Ahmed, Vicky Ostwal, Mukesh Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Abishek Porel, Ricky Bhui, Kumar Kushagra, Rasikh Salam, Sumit Kumar, Swastik Chhikara Anrich Nortje, David Warner, Mitchell Marsh, Harry Brook, Tristan Stubbs, Lungi Ngidi, Jhye Richardson, Shai Hope
