Rishabh Pant (Photo: BCCI)
Rishabh Pant, who faced a career-threatening injury on the eve of New Year 2023 in a car accident, has scripted a remarkable turnaround in his career by making the India squad for the 2024 T20 World Cup on the back of impressive performances in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL).
The Uttarakhand-born Pant, who was groomed as a cricketer in the Capital and has also led Delhi in the Ranji Trophy, has hammered 413 runs in 11 matches at an average of 41.3, which is his second best in an IPL season. He has notched three half-centuries and scored at a strike rate of over 156.
Pant, being the skipper of Delhi Capitals (DC), has also marshalled his men well, with the franchise still in with a chance to make the play-off stage.
He played a match-winning knock of 88 off 43 balls against Gujarat Titans that helped him win Man-of-the-Match award. The season for him began with two half-centuries in the second and third games.
The IPL 2024 is the first competitive cricket competition for Pant after his return from injury.
Delhi Capitals assistant coach Pravin Amre recalled the day Pant joined the squad ahead of IPL 2024.
“I remember his first day when he came at the Vizag (Visakhapatnam) camp; he went straight to ground from the airport. He was hungry, he made sure that he was going to utilise every day. And you can see all his hard work is paying off,” Amre told media recently.
“A couple of good knocks (the two fifties in the first three matches) gave him the confidence, and the one against Gujarat Titans was special. He single-handedly got 31 runs against an experienced bowler like Mohit Sharma in the 20th over and that really shows that he is in good form.”
Following that 88, Pant got decent starts — a couple of scores in 20s — in the next two matches.
India, led by Rohit Sharma, will be carrying two wicketkeepers with Sanju Samson being the other. There is every possibility that Pant will start in the playing XI.
India squad for T20 World Cup: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Hardik Pandya (Vice-Captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant (wicketkeeper), Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
Reserves: Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Khaleel Ahmed and Avesh Khan.
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