Rishabh Pant Ruled Out Of Cricket For At Least 18 Months – Reports

India National Cricket Team have been handed a major blow as the 25-year-old star wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant has reportedly been ruled out of all cricket for at least 18 months. As per a News18 Cricketnext report, the injuries sustained by the wicketkeeper-batter during the horrific car accident are very serious in nature and need a lot of recovery time, which will keep him out of action for an extended period of time.

Rishabh Pant was seriously injured in a road accident on Friday, December 30, 2022. He met with the accident in the early hours of Friday when he was driving from New Delhi to Roorkee in Uttarakhand to pay a surprise visit to his family. His Mercedes GLE car collided with the divider railings on the Delhi-Haridwar highway and then turned a few times before catching fire.

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Following the horrific car crash, Rishabh Pant was taken to Saksham Hospital Multispecialty and Trauma Centre for treatment and was later shifted to the Max Hospital in Dehradun.

Currently, the star cricketer is admitted at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in Mumbai and will stay there till the treatment comes to an end. After the completion of the treatment, Pant will be sent to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru for a long rehab, sources said.

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Pant sustained multiple injuries after the car accident, including a ligament tear in his right knee and he has already undergone two surgeries for the same.

“We need to understand that he is a keeper so his movements – regular squatting, sideways movements and all – put a lot of load on the knee. We can’t rush with it and it is going to take a lot of time,” a source close to the developments told News18 Cricketnext.

Rishabh Pant To Miss Huge Fixtures, Including ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 – Reports

The 25-year-old star gloveman is all set to miss a lot of major cricketing fixtures. He is likely to miss the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023, a potential ICC World Test Championship 2021-23 final, IPL 2023, Asia Cup 2023, ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, IPL 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.

Also, Rishabh Pant, who has been the standout performer for India in Test cricket, is likely to miss half of next year’s ICC World Test Championship cycle.

Rishabh Pant’s absence, especially from Test cricket, is a major setback for Team India. His presence in the playing XI allowed India to field five specialist bowlers, which India might not be able to do in his absence.

India have called-up young wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan to the Test squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2023 and reportedly the selection committee and team management are keen to play Kishan in the playing XI as a like-for-like replacement for the star wicketkeeper-batter Pant.

Talking about Delhi Capitals (DC), they find themselves in big trouble in the absence of Rishabh Pant. They will have to find a new captain and a wicketkeeper for a couple of seasons. Other than Pant, they only have overseas player Phil Salt as a wicket-keeping option in the squad and it will be a challenge for the team management to find the right balance in the team.

Delhi Capitals have Sarfaraz Khan in the squad, who has played the role of wicketkeeper for Mumbai in the domestic T20 matches, but it has to be seen whether the team management will provide him with a long rope.

Also Read: IND vs AUS: Sarfaraz Khan Posts Cryptic Instagram Stories After Another Team India Snub

Virat Kohli | Rohit Sharma | Rishabh Pant | KL Rahul | Suryakumar Yadav | Sanju Samson | Shreyas Iyer | Yuzvendra Chahal | Jasprit Bumrah