New Delhi: The stage is set for Rishabh Pant to come back to professional cricket, and come back as a wicketkeeper batter as the BCCI declared him a 100 percent fit for the Indian Premier League 2024. The India cricketer, who met with a horrific car crash in December of 2022, leading to him missing a packed cricketing calendar ahead, will make his much-awaited return for the Delhi Capitals when they open their IPL campaign against Punjab Kings on March 23 in Mohali.
“After undergoing an extensive 14-month rehab and recovery process, following a life-threatening road mishap on December 30th, 2022, @RishabhPant17 has now been declared fit as a wicket-keeper batter for the upcoming #TATA @IPL 2024,” BCCI posted on X.
Pant has been making steady progress since undergoing surgery in the first half of 2023, and his comeback, from scratch, promises to be bigger than ever. For the better part of last year, Pant has shown rapid improvement, and the outcomes were visible as he, every now and then, turned up for the occasional net sessions. As the suspense around his absence grew, Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting and director Sourav Ganguly kept stirring the pot by providing positive updates about Pant’s return just in the nick of time for the IPL 2024. Even Parth Jindal, the co-owner of the Capitals had said that Pant will play as a batter but had also mentioned ‘depending on how his body reacts, we will take a call for the rest of the IPL’.
Ponting had raised some concerns as to if Pant will play purely as a batter, as there existed lingering doubts over his ability to keep wicket. However, as convincing as their statements sounded, the BCCI remained tight-lipped about Pant’s progress. Until now. The official update means that Pant will bat and also keep, but that being said, whether DC makes Pant, who will return as their captain, go through the drill for the entire season is unlikely. This will be the first form of top-flight Pant will play in 15 months and, and hence, pushing him to the limit physically may not be the greatest of ideas for the Capitals.
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