Former England player Nasser Hussain is hopeful that Indian wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant will be making a comeback in 2024, after his recovery from a car accident he suffered last year. Hussain referred to Pant as a “box office” cricketer and expressed his hope that he can be the same player he was before his injury.
Pant has made impressive progress during the rehabilitation as well. And, according to reports, he could return to cricket ahead of the 2024 T20 World Cup in the USA and the West Indies as well. Sharing his thoughts on Pant’s dangerous accident and his recovery, Hussain was quoted as saying by the ICC:
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“That was such a serious accident. The whole world held its breath and it has been a slow recovery. You follow on social media, on my phone and the initial first walking steps to then scenes in the gym and then scenes of him playing a bit of cricket, scenes of him with Ricky (Ponting). I travelled with Ricky in the summer in the Ashes, and Ricky was texting him ‘how’s the progress coming along’, and he is a box office cricketer.”
In Rishabh Pant’s absence, David Warner led Delhi Capitals (DC) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 edition. However, he attended the mini-auction in Dubai earlier this month, but there are conflicting reports about his availability for IPL 2024 as well. With Pant out of action, India backed KL Rahul as their keeper-batter for the ODI World Cup and he did well, smashing 452 runs in the tournament at an average of 75.33. Hussain said that India are lucky to have both Pant and Rahul.
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“India have done well without him (Pant) as KL has come in and been brilliant in all formats. They’ll continue to be brilliant. They’re lucky to have both of them, but Rishabh Pant, before his injury, was box office, and hopefully after his injury, will be box office as well,” he commented.
