Rishabh Pant likely to miss at least 18 months of cricket: Reports

India wicket-keeper batter Rishabh Pant is likely to miss at least 18 months of cricket. The 25-year-old recently suffered a lot of injuries following a horrifying car accident in December 2022. He was admitted to a local hospital in Roorkee for primary aid, before shifting to Max Hospital in Dehradoon. The cricketer is currently admitted to Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in Mumbai, where he went through a couple of surgeries.

Now, as per the report in News18, the middle-order batter needs a significant amount of time to recover and that rules him out of the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy, IPL 2023, ODI World Cup, the remaining matches in the World Test Championship cycle, half of next year’s World Test Championship cycle, IPL 2024 and the T20 World Cup in June next year.

This indeed is a massive blow to the Men in Blue as the management was considering him as a potential leader in the time to come. He has been a runaway match-winner in Test cricket for India and thus, the Rohit Sharma-led side will definitely miss him being around in the longest format of the game as well.

Rishabh Pant’s medical update

Rishabh Pant has recently undergone two surgeries on his knee after his ligament was very much damaged following the accident. As per reports, the Haridwar-born cricketer will continue to be treated in Mumbai and will then move to National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru for rehab. However, since Pant is a wicket-keeper, his knee will take a lot of pressure and thus regaining full fitness will take a significant amount of time.

“We need to understand that he is a keeper so his movements – regular squatting, sideways movements and all – put a lot of load on the knee. We can’t rush with it and it is going to take a lot of time,” a source close to the developments said.