Meerut: Praveen Kumar, the former India swing bowler, and his son escaped without injuries when his SUV collided with a trailer truck in Meerut, where he is based, on Tuesday night.
“It could have been a lot worse. By the grace of god, we are okay and I am talking to you,” he told PTI. “I had gone to drop my nephew but a massive truck hit my car from behind around 9.30pm. Thank god it [his] was a big car, else there could have been injuries.
“I initially thought just the bumper would be broken but the car is badly damaged.”
The accident brought back memories of Rishabh Pant’s horrific car crash in December last year.
On December 30 last year, Pant was hospitalised after the accident, near Roorkee in Uttarakhand. The accident took place when Pant was driving to Roorkee. His car, which was severely damaged in the accident, is reported to have hit the divider on the road and subsequently caught fire. He hasn’t played cricket since and is expected to return to the field only next year.
Praveen, 36, played six Tests, 68 ODIs and ten T20Is between 2007 and 2012, picking up 27, 77 and eight wickets in the three formats respectively. He retired in October 2018, when he was just 32, and said, “My time is over and I have accepted it”.
He was central to India’s title win in the ODI tri-series in Australia in 2008, also involving Sri Lanka. After dismissing Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting in successive overs in the first final, he claimed 4 for 46 in the second final to help India defend 258 and seal the series. At the time of retiring, he called it “the highest point” of his cricket career.
Praveen also made some vital contributions in his limited time in Test cricket. He was India’s highest wicket-taker on their tour to England in 2011, picking up 15 wickets in three Tests, including figures of 5 for 106 that got him on the Lord’s honours board. He sparkled briefly in T20 cricket as well, studded by an IPL hat-trick for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Rajasthan Royals in 2010.
