It was a cheerful sight for Indian cricket followers on Tuesday night on the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru when Rishabh Pant was noticed within the nets earlier than the third T20I match between the hosts and Afghanistan. He batted for 20 minutes earlier than being joined by the members of the Indian squad. Pant, who continues to recuperate on the National Cricket Academy (NCA), has been tipped to make a return for Delhi Capitals within the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL), with the likes of Sunil Gavaskar already backing the wicketkeeper-batter for a spot in India’s T20 World Cup squad whereas India head coach Rahul Dravid eagerly awaits the IPL season to take a be aware of Pant’s progress. However, former India quick bowler Zaheer Khan feels that selectors are unlikely to favour Pant even when he makes a great IPL return.
India’s Rishabh Pant joins crew captain Rohit Sharma after the previous’s internet observe as a part of his rehabilitation programme, throughout crew India’s observe session forward of the third T20 cricket match between India and Afghanistan(PTI)
Pant had incurred a tragic automotive accident in December 2023, which resulted in all three crucial ligaments in his proper knee getting torn. He later underwent three profitable reconstructive surgical procedures and spent the higher a part of 2023 on the NCA rehabilitating.
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The 26-year-old saved sharing updates on his health journey earlier than movies on social media emerged of Pant having began his observe routines. In November 2023, he attended a DC camp in Kolkata and was later retained by the franchise for the 2024 season, with crew director Sourav Ganguly assured of Pant’s return to motion within the impending IPL season whereas one other former India captain, Gavaskar, reckoned that the left-hander could be an automated decide for the World Cup squad “even if he is fit on even one leg”.
Speaking on Colors Cineplex, Zaheer admitted that whereas it might be pleased news if Pant makes an excellent return in IPL, he wrote off the thought of him making the T20 World Cup crew, explaining that making a comeback of that stage, after nearly 15 months on the sidelines with no match observe, will take time.
“If you see Rishabh Pant’s journey, the turn he has gone through is not easy for any player. Firstly, everyone who is attached to cricket will be happy once he comes back on the field. He has a lot of hurdles to cross,” Zaheer mentioned. “Firstly, he has to come back and play. It’s not easy at this level. You need to get used to it and get the rhythm back. Those things might take time. It’s great if it doesn’t. However, keeping all things in mind, even if he has a very good IPL, I don’t think the team will be thinking in that direction.”
Dravid not ruling out Pant choice
Zaheer’s remark got here only a few days after Dravid dropped a refined point out of the position IPL 2024 may play in India selecting their two wicketkeeping choices. While the likes of Jitesh Sharma, Ishan Kishan and Sanju Samson have been examined to date by the administration, Dravid can have a eager eye on KL Rahul and Pant in the course of the IPL season earlier than the selectors lock their last 15 for the ICC occasion in June.
“We’ve got quite a few keeping options out there. We saw a couple of guys in this game. There’s Sanju, Kishan and Rishabh, I mean, we have all these guys. We’ll just have to see how things pan out over the course of the next few months and make a decision on what we think is the best way to go,” the 51-year-old Bengaluru man mentioned after the third T20I in opposition to Afghanistan.
Source: www.hindustantimes.com
