"If he can..." - Jay Shah stands in the way of Rishabh Pant's T20 World Cup selection

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Jay Shah gave a massive update about the fitness of Rishabh Pant ahead of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. He said that the keeper-batter can play in the T20 World Cup 2024 if he is fit to keep the wickets.

Rishabh Pant’s return to cricket is just a fortnight away from now. The keeper-batter will be making a comeback in the Indian Premier Leaguehttps://cricketaddictor.com/indian-premier-league-ipl/ (IPL) 2024 and will be captaining Delhi Capitals in the league. This will be for the first time since December 2022, that will he will be seen in action.

Rishabh Pant met with a tragic accident in December 2022 after the Test series against Bangladesh. He was returning home when his car collided and got burnt. He was rushed to the hospital for treatment for injuries and underwent knee surgery.

Rishabh Pant missed all the cricket in 2023 but in the meantime, he made sure he put his everything into attaining full fitness. His recovery was much faster than expected and the keeper-batter now has attained full fitness, ready to make a comeback.

But as per the various reports Rishabh Pant will be playing as a pure batter in the league. Delhi Capitals don’t want to rush things with him, keeping in mind the international assignments. He will be captaining the team and playing as a batter only even though he has started keeping.

If he plays the full season of the IPL 2024, Rishabh Pant will be in contention for the T20 World Cup 2024 as well. The keeper-batter will be keen to make an impact in the league and stake his claim back for the franchise as well as the national team.

Jay Shah said that it will be a huge plus for the India team if Rishabh Pant plays in the T20 World Cup 2024 as he is a big asset. The BCCI secretary, however, mentioned that if he keeps the wicket then he can play in the tournament. Speaking to PTI, he explained:

“He is batting well, he is keeping well. We will declare him fit very soon. If he can play in the T20 World Cup for us, that will be a big thing for us. He is a big asset for us. If he can keep, he can play in the World Cup. Let’s see how he does in the IPL.”

Rishabh Pant gets fitness clearance from NCA

India keeper-batter and Delhi Capitals skipper Rishabh Pant as per the reports in Sports Tak has got the fitness clearance from the National Cricket Academy. The keeper-batter recently featured in the practice match at NCA last week and the medical team was happy with his progress.

The reports claimed that he was released from the NCA last week itself might be soon joining the Delhi Capitals camp. The franchise is keen to play him as a batter and also will be monitoring his fitness throughout the tournament. It remains to be seen if he will be able to make the same impact as he used to do before the accident.