Flamboyant wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant is all set to make his comeback in competitive cricket with IPL 2024 after recovering from the multiple injuries he sustained during a horrific car accident in December 2022. Pant will be leading Delhi Capitals in the upcoming season after missing IPL 2023.

The 26-year-old had a tough recovery battle as he sustained a severe right knee injury that required a ligament reconstruction surgery besides a fractured wrist and ankle.

National Cricket Academy Physiotherapist Thulasi Yuvraj recalled the moment when he went to meet Pant after his accident. "When we came to know he had an accident, our head of sports science, Nitin bhai, basically told us just to go and take care of the initial stage of rehab," physio Yuvraj said in a video posted by BCCI. The physio recalled a moment when Pant suffered massive pain and cried when he sustained a simple jerk in the hospital "The first thing I could notice, he is having severe pain was when the ward boy was trying to push the stretcher towards the room and it slightly hit the pathway. He started screaming with so much pain. It was a simple jerk but it felt so painful, he cried immediately. Then I realised, oh something big has happened," said Yuvraj. Pant has been declared fit by the BCCI for the wicketkeeper's role after he spent the last few months at NCA and underwent rehab to regain his fitness. The NCA physio revealed that the doctors predicted that it would take him 2 years to recover but the wicketkeeper batter displayed strong mental strength and gave his all in the rehab program to regain his fitness. "The mental strength and confidence inside him made us give our 100 percent in doing the rehab part for him. The doctors were of the opinion that he may take up to two years. Once he came to NCA, it was like a progressive phase for him," said Yuvraj. Another physio Dhananjay Kaushik, who worked alongside Pant, hailed the Delhi Capitals star for taking care of himself and showing discipline during the rehab to tick all the right boxes. Another NCA physio, Dhananjay Kaushik, said that Pant deserves credit for looking after his nutrition during the rehab process and said he ticked all the boxes of recovery in a fine manner. "If someone needs to be commented on his nutrition, it is Rishabh himself. If you look at overall things, when we started the rehab and where he is right now, this guy has done a lot of hard work, when it comes to ticking all the boxes. Whether it's nutrition, his own recovery, his sleeping pattern, he checked all the boxes of recovery in a very fine manner," said Kaushik. Read more news like this on HindustanTimes.com