The sporting world is full of impressive comebacks. Naomi Osaka returned to the tennis court after she took 15 months away to protect her mental health and start a family. Rishabh Pant’s journey back to a cricket field was a minor miracle in itself and a great sight for the world game. 15 months after a terrible car accident in Uttarakhand saw his car flip over twice and burst into flames, Pant took his Delhi Capitals onto a pitch he thought he might never play on again.
After two outings, his returns with the bat have been modest but contained enough greatest hits to remind everyone what they were missing. The Indian international has always been known for flamboyant hitting that would simultaneously attract praise and criticism from different quarters. His 28 against the Rajasthan Royals took 26 balls, a stop-start effort with multiple dot balls and one crashing maximum. Part of the sight screen felt the 26-year-old’s wrath when he was dismissed. The competitive juices were flowing again.
Pant underwent multiple surgeries to reconstruct three ligaments in his right knee after that horror crash. The wicketkeeper-batter also suffered wrist and ankle fractures and the upper layer of the skin on his back was damaged. There was even talk of leg amputation at the hospital. These are ‘just’ the physical scars. The psychological ones are unimaginable.
His presence on the field is slowly earthing, and any level of impatience with results is asking too much at this point. “He’s going to be a totally different player: in the sense, Rishabh’s going to be much better than what he was [before the accident]. He will now realise the importance of being alive,” said former international and Mumbai Indian Sairaj Bahutule in an interview with ESPNcricinfo.
”I’m not scared of getting out,” Kevin Pietersen once said. Pant has shown a similar sense of abandon at the crease which is why he admits to having enjoyed England’s Bazball during the Ashes last summer, the only piece of cricket he observed during the lay-off. The return to sport now has an even wiser and wider sense of perspective.
How ironic that the consistent talk was his need to mature and pick better options when on the field. It is fateful that an event off the pitch came along to steer an unwelcome but entirely eye-opening path of life experiences. “Gratitude towards life has increased a lot. You start appreciating small things about life,” he said to the Times of India before the beginning of the IPL. “When my accident happened I felt something spiritual saved me.”
These were profound words for a player who already appeared liberated to the naked eye on the field. Now that baggage of failing or succeeding cannot have the same importance. His two cameos so far are the first baby steps back into the line of fire. Pant’s footwork behind the stumps didn’t suffer much either and Ricky Ponting, the Capitals coach, has his back too. It’s a process. The IPL will come and go very fast though and the competition will then turn hotter as eyes turn towards the T20 World Cup in the United States and Caribbean.
One Indian batting legend is already adamant that Pant should be the first name on the team sheet. “If Rishabh Pant is fit on even one leg, he should come in the team because he is a game-changer in every format,” Sunil Gavaskar said before the biggest franchise in cricket launched for its 17th season.
The game rolls on but arguably India are a lesser team without the effervescent wicketkeeper. He is a player who sees the solutions rather than the problems. Despite the long break, he is also still one of the top earners in the league, collecting 16 Crore (just over $2 million).
The boy from Roorkee is content. “Yes, didn’t get the result we wanted but will keep improving day by day and give 100 per cent commitment and effort. Loved being on the field,” he tweeted after the loss to Punjab. Similarly, the defeat to Rajasthan was followed by the assessment that lessons would be learned. Pant has just learned a much bigger one away from the green grass.