Rishabh Pant might be out of action as he continues his road to recovery after the horrific accident, he was involved in. While nothing is confirmed, but Pant’s IPL franchise Delhi Capitals (DC) director of cricket Sourav Ganguly stated that Rishabh Pant will return to cricket in IPL 2024.
Pant was involved in one of the most famous Test wins for India when he shepherded the Indian team to an all-time great victory at the Gabba, Brisbane in the 4th Test of the 2020-21 Test series in Australia.
Australia had not lost a Test in Brisbane since 1988 and it was called a fortress for them. The series was tied 1-1 and India had come into this game after drawing the Sydney Test thanks to R Ashwin and Hanuma Vihari’s heroics and Cheteshwar Pujara and Rishabh Pant’s attacking knocks.
India won the Gabba Test after India fielded two debutants and Shardul Thakur, who was playing his second Test only. Set 328 runs to win the 4th innings, Shubman Gill made a brilliant 91 and Pujara made 56. But it was left to Rishabh Pant, to take the team to win and he did it with 3 wickets to spare and made 89*.
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Speaking on the 3rd anniversary of the heroic win, Rishabh Pant said he was not as excited as the rest of the team after he hit the winning runs. He added that for him, it was more of proving a point to himself after he was not picked for the first Test of that unforgettable series.
"I remember what Rohit Sharma said. A lot of people told me special things, but Rohit's words, I remember it well. He was seeing my reaction. Everybody was happy, but he was not seeing me as excited as everyone else.
He told me 'I don't think you realize what you have done'. I told him 'Yeah, we won a match, we won a series here for the 2nd time'. He told me 'When you quit cricket, you will understand the importance of this innings because you don't know what you have done'. Then I realized what I had done," Pant told Star Sports.
Pant was not part of the first Test in which India was bowled out for 36 runs in Adelaide and replaced Wriddhiman Saha in the Melbourne Test as India needed an attacking batter. There was no looking back once his exploits in the third Test in Sydney stunned the Australians.
"I didn't know how to react. I was playing in the middle, I was conscious about not getting over-excited. Yes, there was a lot of happiness around. It was a very important match for me because I was not playing ODI and T20I.
Even in Tests, my place wasn't certain. I was like 'How can this happen?'. I have expectations from myself to do well and to win matches for the team. But I didn't play the first match. It was like a 'dream-come-true' to win the match for the team. I wanted that feeling. I was telling myself this. That was my mindset, I had belief in myself at a time when not many believed in me," Pant added.
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