India wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant is all set to make his Test comeback for the first time since his horrific car accident in 2022.
The southpaw has been picked in the squad for the first Test of the upcoming two-match series against Bangladesh, starting on September 19 in Chennai.
Ahead of his much-awaited Test return, Pant has received a lot of praise from the legendary Australian cricketer Ricky Ponting.
Rishabh Pant is often considered a 'fun' player because of his playfulness and stump mic chatter, but Ponting reckons that he is as serious a player as any.
"We've all seen him play and heard him in the stump mic, he's an infectious character to have around the group. He loves his cricket, he's a winner, that's what he is. He doesn't just play to make a few runs and be out there for the fun of it. He must have 4 or 5 Test hundreds already and he's got about nine 90s as well. [MS] Dhoni played for 120 Tests (90) and made 3 or 4 hundreds (6), this is how good this guy (Pant) is. He's a serious cricketer," Ponting said on Sky Sports.
In 33 Tests so far, Rishabh Pant has amassed 2271 runs at an average of 43.67, including five hundreds and 11 half-centuries. He was instrumental in India’s Test series wins on Australian soil in 2018-19 and 2020-21.
The swashbuckling left-hander will be key to India's chances of securing a hat-trick of Test series win Down Under when they will tour Australia for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy later this year.
Ponting, who worked with Rishabh Pant during his coaching tenure with the Delhi Capitals, was in constant touch with the wicketkeeper-batter throughout his recovery process.
The former Australian skipper was simply blown away by how confident Rishabh was about making his comeback.
"It's a remarkable comeback. If you can see even his leg now and listen to the stories he tells about what he confronted during his car accident, just the mental scarring that comes with that but the physical side and the rehab he went through, I didn't think he would play last year's IPL (2024)," Ponting said.
"But 12 months before, he said 'Don't worry about me, I guarantee you I'll be right for the IPL'. We thought he'll be able to bat and we might have to use him as a sub player (Impact Player) but he kept every game, was one of our leading run-scorers, bats No. 3 in the T20 World Cup and is part of a World Cup winning team and is named in the Test squad now," he further remarked.
