In what will be a huge setback for India, wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant is likely to be away from any form of cricket for at least 18 months. News18 Cricketnext has reliably learnt that the nature of injuries which Pant suffered during the December 2022 car accident need a lot of recovery time and could well keep the stumper away from the field for a significant period.
This most likely rules him out of this year’s IPL, 50-over World Cup, the entire World Test Championship cycle, potentially a WTC Final too, half of next year’s World Test Championship cycle, IPL 2024 and the T20 World Cup in June next year.
The 25-year-old is at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in Mumbai and will stay there till the treatment concludes. Prior to this, Pant was admitted to the Max Hospital in Dehradun from where the BCCI airlifted him to Mumbai for further treatment and course of action.
As per sources close to the development, Pant will continue to be treated in Mumbai and will then head to the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru for the long rehab.
There has been a lot of damage to ligaments in Pant’s knee and the stumper has already undergone two surgeries for the same. Being a wicketkeeper, his knees take a lot of pressure and regaining full fitness is likely to take a lot of time.
“We need to understand that he is a keeper so his movements – regular squatting, sideways movements and all – put a lot of load on the knee. We can’t rush with it and it is going to take a lot of time,” a source close to the developments told News18 Cricketnext.
What he’s likely to miss
Pant is likely to miss a lot of major fixtures which also include two World Cups – 50-over World Cup later this year and the 20-over World Cup in June next year – and 2023 edition of the Asia Cup in September.
The left-hander is also likely to miss the World Test Championship fixtures of this year’s cycle and around half of the fixtures falling in the next cycle.
If all goes India’s way in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, absence from the World Test Championship final will also be added to the above list.
Rishabh Pant is currently at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in Mumbai. AP
Life without Pant
It’s going to be a tough time ahead for the Indian cricket team, especially in the longest format of the game. The left-hander had stamped his authority with match-winning efforts in the middle-order and had looked a very assured, and neat, operator behind the stumps even on challenging surfaces.
In absence of Pant, at least in the longest format, plenty of combinations are likely to be put to test as his exploits with the bat allowed the captain and management to field five specialist bowlers. Yes, the returns have been mixed in the white-ball formats but his impact in Tests has been second to none.
During his 33-Test career so far, the aggressive left-hander has dished out plenty of match-winning, and saving, performances with the bat and continues to up his wicketkeeping game.
Early impact
While those are very big shoes to fill now, selectors, in the Test squad for the Australia series, have tried to do damage control and handed a surprise Test call to Ishan Kishan. KS Bharat was the other wicketkeeper in the squad but the management could well go Kishan’s way to emulate Pant’s intent during crunch situations.
Whether Kishan responds to the challenge like Pant is anybody’s guess right now, but a plan, possibly for the long term, has been put in place. Suryakumar Yadav, another addition to the Test set-up, will also add more intent in the middle-order.
The Delhi Capitals situation
The DC unit are set to face a tough couple of seasons. The franchise will not only miss the services of their captain and a destructive batter in the middle-overs, but also see their balance go for a toss.
For now, Phil Salt is the only wicketkeeper in the squad and him being an overseas player will pose a lot of challenges for the management in putting the best XI on the park. Yes, Sarfaraz Khan has kept wickets for Mumbai in the domestic T20 matches this year but will the management back him for the long run?
Even if they sort the wicketkeeper issue and address the team balance, captaincy will be another area of concern going forward for the Delhi Capitals unit.
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