BCCI stopped Rishabh Pant's comeback for IND vs ENG Test series alleges the Indian wicketkeeper

Rishabh Pant will make his highly-anticipated return to competitive cricket later this month when the Indian Premier League (IPL) season gets underway. The BCCI, on Tuesday (March 12), announced that the wicketkeeper-batsman has been cleared by its medical team to play in IPL 2024.

The 26-year-old has not played a competitive game since December 2022. In the same month, he suffered several injuries in a horrific car accident and had to undergo an extensive rehabilitation program prescribed by the National Cricket Academy (NCA). He has now been cleared by the BCCI to return to action.

“After undergoing an extensive 14-month rehab and recovery process, following a life-threatening road mishap on December 30th, 2022, near Roorkee, Uttarakhand, Rishabh Pant has now been declared fit as a wicket-keeper batter for the upcoming TATA IPL 2024,” stated the BCCI in its media release.

Rishabh Pant wanted to play against England:

While the cricketing world is eagerly waiting for Rishabh Pant’s return to action later this month, the wicketkeeper-batsman has revealed he wanted to return to action almost two months ago when the recently concluded Test series between India and England got underway.

In an interview with TOI, the Delhi star revealed that the original plan was to recover in time for the series against England. He also revealed that BCCI Secretary Jay Shah took a personal interest in his recovery before saying that the BCCI as well as the NCA did not want him to play Tests straightaway.

“I was anxiously waiting to be declared fit. I was trying to get fit before the Test series against England. BCCI and NCA were very helpful. BCCI secretary Jay Shah took a personal interest. They didn’t want to rush me to the longest format.

“They slowly built up the workload. That was the best part of the recovery. You have to appreciate if someone takes care of you like that. They suggested that I start with T20s and then increase the workload,” said Rishabh Pant.

Speaking further, Rishabh Pant expressed his delight over getting the clearance to return to action in IPL 2024. He stated that the lengthy time on the sideline was taking a toll on him before saying that he could not wait to go out and have fun on the cricket field once again.

“Amazing feeling. This was the thing we were waiting for. It’s been so long. I think you can still cope with a layoff of three to six months. But when it goes beyond that, it starts taking a toll. I just want to go out there and play and have fun. Not thinking about the future too much, because (then) you put too much pressure on yourself. Looking forward to each day as it comes,” said Pant.

Rishabh Pant is set to play his first competitive game in more than a year on March 23 when Delhi Capitals take on Punjab Kings in Mohali. He is also set to lead the Capitals.