India wicketkeeper batter Rishabh Pant is set to miss most of the 2023 cricket season after disturbing details emerged following his twin surgeries in Mumbai.
As per a report in a prominent cricket publication, Rishabh Pant will certainly not be available for the Indian Premier League (IPL), and the World Test Championship final in June.
The publication claimed that all three ligaments in Rishabh Pant's knee were damaged in the horrific car crash he suffered in Uttarakhand late last month. Two of his ligaments have already been reconstructed after Pant underwent twin surgeries at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani hospital in Mumbai. He will have to be operated on again after six weeks to fix his third ligament in the knee.
According to the media outlet, “all three ligaments in the knee – anterior cruciate ligament, posterior cruciate ligament, and medial collateral ligament, which are necessary for movement and stability – have been torn in Pant's case. It is understood that in the surgery conducted recently, both the PCL and MCL were reconstructed. Pant will need to undergo another surgery to reconstruct his ACL, but the doctors will wait for at least six weeks before going ahead with it.”
As a result, Rishabh Pant is expected to remain sidelined for a minimum of six months, throwing his selection for the ODI World Cup in October-November in limbo.
Last week, the BCCI announced that the 25-year-old cricketer underwent knee surgery on his right ligaments after they were torn in the accident that took place on December 30 when he was on his way to surprise his mother in Roorkee.
After undergoing initial treatment at the Max Hospital in Dehradun, Rishabh Pant was airlifted to Mumbai by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
Being a centrally contracted player, Rishabh Pant's treatment is the BCCI's prerogative and with his treatment not going as expected in Dehradun, the Indian cricket board decided to put him under the direct supervision of Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala, the Head of Centre for Sports Medicine and Director of Arthroscopy & Shoulder Service at the Mumbai-based hospital.
Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala has previously treated other marquee names of Indian cricket, including the legendary Sachin Tendulkar, current pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, allrounder Ravindra Jadeja and 2011 World Cup winner Yuvraj Singh and other prominent athletes of the country.
The development is a big blow to Team India because Rishabh Pant is a vital cog in the Rohit Sharma-led side’s scheme of things in Test cricket where he has accomplished most of his success.
Widely regarded as the best wicketkeeper-batter in Tests, Rishabh Pant has scored 2169 runs in 54 innings in the whites, including five centuries and 10 half-centuries. He has a stunning strike rate of 73.10 and averages 43.48 in the longest format of the game.
Last month, he powered India to a 2-0 whitewash of Bangladesh in the Test series in the neighboring country. In the process, Rishabh Pant joined a select band of Indian wicketkeepers, including former captain MS Dhoni to complete 4,000 runs in international cricket.
In his absence, Ishan Kishan has been included in the squad for next month's Border Gavaskar Trophy against Australia. The result of the four-match Test series will decide India's qualification/disqualification for the World Test Championship final.
While many former cricketers have wished Rishabh Pant a speedy recovery, they have also backed Ishan Kishan to fill his void in the Test team, considering he's also an ultra-aggressive batter like the Uttarakhand-born cricketer.
Former India spinner Maninder Singh backed Ishan Kishan to come good in the longest format of the game as he claimed that the Jharkhand batter was a big match player.
“If Rishabh Pant isn't available for selection due to the unfortunate accident he met with, then I believe the team management should pick up Ishan Kishan (who is also a left-handed batter) for that role across all formats. He's an ideal candidate for Team India if Pant is not around,” Maninder Singh told Mykhel.
“I personally believe that a player who is playing fearless cricket should get a chance in the playing eleven. And the way he's batted in whatever little chances he's got, he's proven his mettle. His double century in ODI against Bangladesh was a testimony to the same. Although the bowling against which that ton came wasn't very challenging, nevertheless he's shown the attitude. And a player who's gifted with such an attitude deserves multiple chances,” he added.
“It is the job of the team management and the selectors to reward players of such potential and I strongly believe Ishan Kishan has that knack of a big-match player. I believe if there is one player who's nearby Rishabh Pant's potential across formats, it is Ishan Kishan,” Maninder Singh signed off.
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