India’s big-hitting wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant has revealed that he feared the amputation of his right leg in the aftermath of his horrific car crash more than a year ago.
Pant, back from the Bangladesh Test series, was driving from Delhi to his hometown Roorkee when his car crashed into the median divider on the highway in the early hours of December 30, 2022.
Recounting the initial moments after the crash, the 26-year-old said he was in excruciating pain as his right knee had dislocated, turning 180 degrees to the right as he lay face down.
“There was someone around so I asked if he could help getting the leg back in position. He helped the knee get back in place,” the cricketer said on the Star Sports series Believe: To Death & Back, which documents his recovery. “If there was any nerve damage, there was a possibility of amputation. That is when I felt scared.”
Passers-by Rajat Kumar and Nishu Kumar were able to pull Pant out of his SUV before it went up in smoke. “I had taken an SUV, but what I was seeing was a sedan,” he quipped, remembering his mangled vehicle.
“At the time of the accident, I was aware of the wounds, but I was lucky as it could have been even more serious,” he recollected.
Pant underwent initial treatment at a Dehradun hospital and was later airlifted to Mumbai where he was under the care of a specialist consultant brought in by
the BCCI.
After surgeries to reconstruct all three ligaments in his right knee, he underwent rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore — a process he describes as boring at best and frustrating at worst.
“I am focusing on recovery cut off from the world. It helps me recover fast, especially when the injury is so serious. For recovery, you have to do the same thing every day. It’s boring, it’s irritating, it’s frustrating, but you have to do it,” the swashbuckling batter, who was instrumental in India’s monumental win at the Gabba in 2021, elaborated.
He went on to recount how the doctor gave him 16-18 months’ recovery time and he intended to take six months off it.
“I told him (doctor) that everybody is saying different things, but you will give me most clarity... he said it would take 16 to 18 months. I said whatever timeline you give me, I will reduce six months from it,” Pant, who is likely to play for Delhi Capitals in the upcoming IPL, added.
