Rishabh Pant suffered a severe knee injury among others after being involved in a horrific car accident in December 2022. He was airlifted from Dehradun to Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital in Mumbai where he underwent surgery.
Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala, Director, Centre for Sports Medicine of the medical facility, told Pant that his recovery to full fitness will be an arduous process and may take 18 months.
However, a supremely confident Pant shot back he will get it done in 12 months leaving Dr Pardiwala astonished.
“(If) you (Pant) do get back to competitive cricket, that’ll be a miracle. After a high velocity knee dislocation with this kind of situation. And that’s when he said, ‘Yeah but I’m a miracle man. I’ve managed two. I’m going to certainly manage the third’,” recalled Dr Pardiwala in a video shared by BCCI on their website.
“As surgeons and as doctors, it’s very important for us to inform our patients, their family and all the stakeholders of the actual status of the injury. Rishabh’s mother was with him. She was very concerned whether he would ever be able to walk again. “I told her that ‘this is such a critical injury and we will definitely aim for him to get back to competitive cricket. But that’s going to be a long-drawn process’.
“When I told Rishabh 18 months, he said ‘okay, I am going to show you I can do it in 12 months’,” he added.
Pant, who was recently declared fully fit to make his return as wicketkeeper-batter in the upcoming season of IPL, said he’s feeling ‘close to normal’.
“I feel very close to normal,” a beaming Pant said.
“When I started walking without crutches, that was a high point. Then started jogging a little bit, that was a high for me, then started batting, then started keeping as I took joy in everything,” he added.
Pardiwala then said the complex injury, the trauma of the accident and Pant getting frustrated at being away from cricket for a long period had to be delicately managed.
“For any surgeon, knee dislocation is one of the worst injuries because everything breaks. You need to get back the stability, you need to get back the shock absorption capability,” he said.
“For any trauma, there is a period of shock and there is always an aspect of mental health. On a particular day, you are perfectly normal, you are a superstar and you are celebrated across the world. But a week later, you can’t do what a normal person does. That’s when the frustration sets in. So, that was a difficult period for Rishabh. We had to support him through that phase,” he added.
Dhananjay Kaushik, the National Cricket Academy physiotherapist, then revealed the extent of Pant’s knee injury.
“None of the ligaments were spared during that accident. ACL (Anterior Cruciate Ligament), PCL (Posterior Cruciate Ligament), a part of the quadriceps, you name it and he did not have it,” Kaushik said.
“I think if there is anyone who could make a comeback, it is Rishabh Pant, with the attitude he has got,” he added.
NCA strength and conditioning coach Nishanta Bordoloi feels that the incident and the recovery process has made Pant into a better human.
“It has made him a better human being. He is now respecting life, as a whole, more. It has just made him more resilient and stronger. He was a very good human being, he has become an even better human being now,” Bordoloi said.
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