Days after being shifted to Mumbai’s Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital from Dehradun, where Rishabh Pant was admitted following the horrific car crash, his mother asked Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala if her son would be able to walk.

Dr Pardiwala, director at the hospital's centre for sports medicine, who performed the surgery on Pant's knee, assured her of the wicketkeeper-batter's well-being.

“Rishabh’s mother was very concerned about whether he will ever be able to walk again. I told her, ‘look, I can at least promise you that we’ll make sure that he walks again…' because this is such a severe injury. But it will be a long-drawn process,” Pardiwala had recalled on bcci.tv a few months ago.

“Rishabh remembers very well that his knee was completely out and was lying almost 90 degrees to the normal position... from the bone and joint part, he had… broken a lot of things,” he said.

Having been bedridden for 45 days, Pant showed the physical and mental strength to stage a comeback through a long-drawn process. He led Delhi Capitals in IPL 2024 and was a key member of Rohit Sharma's T20 World Cup-winning team in the West Indies.

Almost 21 months since that accident on December 30, 2022, Pant will be playing his first Test, against Bangladesh in Chennai.

Dhruv Jurel had been impressive with his versatility during the last series against England but head coach Gautam Gambhir underlined Pant's value.

“We all know how destructive he can be and what he has done. Not many of his age has done it across conditions. With batting and behind the stumps he has been phenomenal. His batting overshadows his keeping, especially against the spinners,” Gambhir said.

Pant's last Test was also against Bangladesh, in Mirpur in December 2022, and there is talk if his right knee — which needed ligament reconstruction — would be able to take the workload. India will resume their World Test Championship cycle with 10 Tests in the next few months and it will involve a lot of stress and rigours of an intense contest.

Not just being on the field for three-four days, Pant will also have to cope with the constant travelling because of the gruelling schedule.

Keeping up to the spinners on turning wickets for long sessions can be demanding and how his knee copes in such situations will be closely monitored. If needed, Jurel can replace Pant in a couple of games at home to manage his workload ahead of the tour Down Tour.

"When you are sitting outside talking about return, it's a different thing. But when you return to the field, it is a completely different atmosphere," Pant said on Club Prairie Fire podcast co-hosted by Michael Vaughan and Adam Gilchrist before his return to cricket.

He would feel the same, appearing for his first Test in a new avatar.