The first time Ravi Shastri saw Rishabh Pant after the near-fatal car accident in December 2022, the experience left the former Indian coach deeply unsettled.
Pant lay in a hospital bed, stitches and scars testament to the brutality of the crash. For one moment, Shastri did not care about Pant's cricketing future, but only whether he could return to anything approaching a normal life.
"Honestly, if you had seen him, you would not have given him a hope in hell to play cricket again," Shastri told news.com.au.
Pant met that ghastly accident early one December morning while driving to his hometown Roorkee in his SUV. The vehicle brushed against a median strip, overturned, and caught fire. Pant was trapped inside but managed to break the windscreen and get out. It was largely thanks to the speedy Good Samaritans, among whom was Susheel Kumar, a Haryana Roadways driver, who pulled him out of the flaming car.
When Shastri visited Pant a month later, the cricketer's condition painted a grim picture. "He was in terrible shape. He was battered and bruised, scarred all over," Shastri recalled. "He had a massive operation and had stitches all over the place." The thought of Pant walking again seemed ambitious, let alone returning to professional cricket.
But come 2024, it has been an extraordinary journey for Pant. Not only has he recovered but also made a triumphant comeback to the Indian team as well. Performances have been instrumental for India's winning of the World Cup and his reestablishment into the Tests side.
It was a miracle that to recover and just play cricket was miraculous, said Shastri. "Then to go on and play in a World Cup-winning team and be part of the Test team is a truly remarkable achievement.".
When you talk to him now, the regard he has for the game is even more. He was nowhere. Suddenly, he is back, and he values that. I have seen him work really, really hard over the past few months to get into the shape he is to play Test cricket," Shastri said while talking about Pant's comeback.
Here, too, he had tasted much success in Australia was now getting prepared for a big return. The unpenetrated 89 he scored in 2021 at Gabba, ending Australia's 32-year unbeaten streak at the venue, is fresh in the minds of cricket fans.
Overall, said Shastri, "From there to here, it's nothing short of a miracle."
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