After a horrific accident on December 31, 2022, Rishabh Pant returned to Test cricket after almost over 600 days. The promising talent showcased his class with a Hundred against Bangladesh and just in his 34th Test game for India, Pant equaled MS Dhoni’s century record in Test cricket for India. Rishabh now has a ton against and in countries like England, Australia, India and South Africa, which is pretty impressive for his age with 2419 runs in the format with an average of 44.80 after 34 games.
What’s more interesting is that Pant’s average while playing against Australia is 62.4 and 65 when playing games at home. Arguably, Pant is a monster performer for India especially when it comes to Test cricket. (5 Bowlers With Most Five-Wicket Hauls In Test Cricket)
Many believe Pant is on his way to become the best wicketkeeper-batter in Test cricket for India but for that he needs to outshine the likes of MS Dhoni. Dhoni who left captaincy of Tests earlier than other formats did not have a fabulous record in Test cricket. He finished his Test career as a batsman with an average of 38.09. In the first 34 Test matches of Dhoni’s career, he scored 1,778 runs which is 641 runs less than Pant in the same amount of games.
Coming to Pant’s road to recovery, he was admitted to a hospital in Dehradun, and as he started his road to recovery, a lot of surgeries were done. Earlier, it looked like Pant would at least take two years to recover as the former India skipper Sourav Ganguly who was working with the Delhi Capitals disclosed in February 2023 that Pant was going through a difficult time and would require a couple of years to make a comeback on the field.
After all the hardships and struggles, Pant was able to make his comeback within 1.5 years after his accident as he was spotted playing in the Indian Premier League 2024. (R Ashwin Vs Nathon Lyon: Monty Panesar Picks The Better Spinner)
Pant then made a return to the Indian team in white-ball sides and played a crucial role in India’s T20 World Cup 2024 triumph. Recently, while playing in the Duleep trophy 2024, one of Pant’s cheeky digs went viral on social media. (With Burea Inputs)