Delhi Capitals’ all-rounder Akshar Patel revealed his thoughts after getting to know about skipper Rishabh Pant’s car accident which happened a year ago in December 2022. The mishap took place as Pant's car hit a divider in the Delhi-Roorkee highway.
The southpaw received serious injuries but was lucky to somehow escape from his burning car, thanks to the timely help given by passersby. He received initial treatment at a hospital in Dehradun but was then airlifted to Mumbai’s Kokilaben Ambani Hospital by the BCCI.
Here, Pant underwent further treatment and knee surgery. During his recovery period, Pant missed the IPL 2023, the Asia Cup 2023, and the World Cup 2023. However, recently, Pant is nearing the completion of his rehab and shared an update on social media about his fitness.
Meanwhile, Akshar Patel revealed new details of the "fateful" accident that has still kept the wicketkeeper-batter away from competitive cricket.
In a video shared by Delhi Capitals on their social media, Akshar can be seen recalling getting a call from someone and getting to know about Rishabh’s accident.
Nasser Hussain hopes that Rishabh Pant will continue to be box-office after his return from injury
"Subah 7 ya 8 baje mere phone pe ring baji. Pratima di ka phone aya. Pratima di ne mujhe pucha ki 'teri Rishabh se kab baat hui thi last?' Mene bola 'nahi, kal karne wala tha lekin kal nahi ki mene'. 'Are uski mummy ka number ho toh mereko send kar, uska accident ho gaya hai'. Matlab pehla thought mereko aaya ki ye bhai gaya (Early morning I got a call from sister Pratima. She asked me when did I talked to Rishabh Pant last? I told her that I was about to talk to him last day but I did not. Pratima said that she needed Pant's mother's contact number as the player has met an accident. At the first time, I thought he is gone)," said Akshar in the video by DC.
As Rishabh Pant continues to work on his recovery, he recently opened up on the car crash, admitting that he is lucky to be alive.
"The kind of accident I had I am lucky to be alive. The first part of recovery was so challenging with lots of pain but now recovery is going well. More from a physical point of view because in the starting there was a lot of pain to be endured. But just looking forward to the journey till now. I think it's been going well from a recovery point of view.
I felt like I couldn't face people and all, and I felt like I had to do something that gives me confidence and I wanted to support my team at the same time because I've been playing for them. I love my team all the way, so I wanted to show my support even in the worst times. So that was the idea and I think it's part of the recovery process,” Pant said in a video by IPL.