Former England captain Nasser Hussain shared his thoughts on India keeper-batter Rishabh Pant’s impending return to competitive cricket and said that Team India has done well without him. However, Hussain acknowledged that Pant is a box-office cricketer and India is lucky to have him.
Notably, Pant had met with a near-fatal car accident on the Dehradun highway on the way from Delhi in December last year and was hospitalized for quite some time. He also underwent surgery on his knee and since then has been rehabbing at the NCA.
He missed the Asia Cup 2023, the World Cup 2023 and IPL 2023 due to his injuries, but has shown remarkable recovery as speculations are rife that Pant will return to competitive cricket with the IPL 2024, where he leads the Delhi Capitals.
Former England captain Nasser Hussain has stated that the whole world has been awaiting his return.
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"That was such a serious accident. The whole world held its breath and it has been a slow recovery. You follow on social media, on my phone, and the initial first walking steps to the scenes in the gym and then scenes of him playing a bit of cricket, scenes of him with Ricky (Ponting). I traveled with Ricky in the summer in the Ashes, and Ricky was texting him ‘how's the progress coming along’, and he is a box office cricketer,” Hussain told ICC.
England is due to tour India in January-March next year for five Tests, and Pant has a very good record against them. He has scored 781 runs in 12 innings against them with three centuries and four half-centuries.
In Pant’s absence, India has tried KS Bharat, Ishan Kishan, and KL Rahul as wicketkeepers in Tests and Ishan Kishan and KL Rahul have done the job in white-ball cricket.
"India have done well without him (Pant) as KL has come in and been brilliant in all formats. They'll continue to be brilliant. They're lucky to have both of them, but Rishabh Pant, before his injury, was box office, and hopefully, after his injury, will be box office as well,” Hussain added.
