Former Pakistan cricketer Wasim Akram commended India's wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant's remarkable comeback to cricket. Pant had spent more than 14 months out of the game after being involved in a serious car accident in December 2022.
He made his cricketing return in IPL 2024 where he captained Delhi Capitals and impressed with both the bat and the keeping gloves. He was then named in the Indian T20 World Cup 2024 squad and has impressed with his bat and work behind the stumps in the group stage.
"Pant ki performance dekh rahe hai. Miracle jo iss ladke ne kiya hai, dikhaya hai ki he is superhuman. Jis tragedy se woh wapas aaya hai. Jis tarah se uska accident, maine clips dekhe the, we were all worried in Pakistan [The kind of performance Pant is giving after that accident, he is proving he is a superhuman. We saw the clips and all were worried about him]. I was worried, actually, maine tweet bhi kiya tha unke baare me. And he came back and he averaged 40 this year in IPL - 446 runs, a strike rate of 155. Woh toh miracle bachcha hai,” Akram said to Sportskeeda.
Pant has the most runs in this T20 World Cup 2024 for India, with 96 runs with an average of 48.
Wasim Akram also praised Pant's Test career achievements, pointing to significant innings against Australia and England.
"Jis tarike se usne Test cricket me performance di. Jo Australia me jaake usne 100 kiya. Phir uske baad England ke khilaaf usne batting ki. Test cricket me reverse sweeps, [James] Anderson ko, [Pat] Cummins ko. He is special," Akram said.
"And especially what he has been through in that horrific accident. Uske baad comeback karna. Kitna mentally strong yeh ladka hoga. That's a story to be told for generations to generations in my opinion. To motivate young people of the world - ki comeback ho sakta hai, jaise Pant ne kiya,” he added.
Akram also agreed with Sourav Ganguly’s assessment that Rishabh Pant is a natural captain.
"I will second Ganguly that Pant ek natural captain hai, instinctive captain he jo mauke par decision karta hai. Woh bada jaruri hai T20 format mai [Agree with Ganguly that Pant is a natural, instinctive captain and takes decisions according to the situation, which is very important in T20 cricket].
Aap T20 format me yeh nahi jaa sakte ki yaar ek raat pahle - do overs yeh karega, do overs yeh karega, do overs yeh karega, na. Aap jaate ho ki pehla over yeh karega and then situation kiya hai. Agar pahle over me ek wicket le liya hai toh usko me dusra bhi kara dunga. Agar nahi toh main kisi aur ko le aaunga. Yeh, instinctive captaani hoti hai. Batting order bhi aap pehle se nahi plan kar sakte hai, situation ki mutabiq change karte ho aap. That's where I think Pant is good at," Akram elaborated.
(Sportskeeda inputs)
