Amazed at the impact the returning Rishabh Pant had during the just-concluded Indian Premier League (IPL), Australia legend and Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting has labelled the wicketkeeper-batter’s roaring comeback to professional cricket after a near-fatal car crash as “nothing short of spectacular”.
The swashbuckling left-hander made 446 runs at an average of 40.54 and a strike-rate of 155.40 while claiming a joint-high 16 dismissals with the gloves during IPL 2024.
“It’s been nothing short of spectacular, to be honest. I spent a few months with him in the middle of the IPL last year, which was only sort of three or four months after his accident,” Ponting said.
“And I had grave fears then that he would never play the game again. What he’d been through psychologically, but what he’d been through physically. At that stage, he still couldn’t walk. He was on crutches. And I remember saying to him, what do you think about next season? He just looked at me and said, don’t worry, I’ll be right. And he’s looked after himself incredibly well.”
“The Delhi Capitals franchise has done a great job looking after him. Patrick Farhart has been his physio. He’s done a great job with him as well,” he added.
While Pant’s efforts with the bat were eye-catching, what saw him return to the Indian squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 was his quality keeping. Ponting admitted that the real concern around Pant was how he would handle the wicket-keeping load.
“No one had real concerns about his batting, because of how good he is and how dynamic he is with the bat,” Ponting said.
“But with his wicket-keeping, and having to squat every ball for 14 games in a row, there were certainly some concerns there.”
Pant finished the league stage of the IPL with 16 dismissals, the joint-most by any wicket-keeper in the season.
On the back of his impressive showing behind and in front of the stumps, Pant was named in India’s T20 World Cup squad as predicted by Ponting.
“I was asked when I was over there what I thought about him. He’d been picked in the Indian squad, and I basically said he’d be one of the first players picked, and sure enough he was,” Ponting said.
“So, great to see him back out there playing again. I’ve enjoyed every moment of working with him. Obviously, he’s been the captain of the Delhi Capitals, and I’ve been the coach there. But it’s been a remarkable comeback, and hopefully he has a huge impact on this World Cup,” he hoped.
India will begin their ICC men’s T20 World Cup campaign against Ireland on June 5, before taking on arch-rivals Pakistan on June 9. The men-in-blue will round off their group stage assignment with two more clashes against USA (June 12) and Canada (June 15).