Rishabh Pant made a successful return to competitive cricket, leading India A in a four-day match against South Africa A after a challenging recovery from a foot fracture.

The Indian wicketkeeper-batter had suffered a fractured toe on his right foot on Day 1 of the fourth Test against England at Old Trafford in July. The injury not only ruled him out of the fifth Test of the Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy but also denied him participation in the Asia Cup, the two-Test series against West Indies at home, and the ongoing white-ball tour of Australia.

In a video shared by BCCI on social media, Pant reflected on his challenging comeback and the huge role the BCCI's Centre of Excellence played in making it possible.

“I feel it was really challenging for me from the start because you know, I had that fracture in England and had to go through that whole process,” Pant said as he spoke about his rehabilitation.

The southpaw explained that the recovery was divided into stages, beginning with healing before shifting his attention to rehabilitation work.

“The first part of the process was healing. For the first six weeks you’re gonna heal the fracture first and then you have to come to CoE. That was the plan for the initial phase and that’s what I did and the healing went on nicely,” Pant said.

The 28-year-old expressed gratitude towards the physios and staff at the CoE for guiding him through the rehabilitation.

“I started my rehab slowly, went through a little bit of physio work in the initial 10–15 days, slowly getting back to doing my strength, a little bit of rehab and it all started from there as a second phase for me and right now I’m here with you fully recovered thanks to CoE for that,” he added.

Talking about the emotional challenges during recovery, Pant said: “Being positive is really a mindset thing. During injury you tend to get demotivated, the energy levels are not great, you are frustrated. But if you can do small small things that make you feel good, you have to do that part also especially when you are injured.”

He praised the mindset of the coaching staff, saying, "When you talk to them you can feel that warmth that, yes, you're going through a tough time, you're doing that rehab but you can still come out of it with flying colours."

Pant also hailed the Centre of Excellence as one of the best places for both recovery and training. “You’ll find one of the best practice facilities also, it’s not just a rehab place. You have three big grounds, you have like 50 wickets for practice, you get center wicket practice. If a person wants to practice here I think this is one of the best places,” he remarked.