Horrific car crash and 634 days later, Rishabh Pant still the once-in-a-generation daredevil he always was

Shubman Gill had reached 33 when Rishabh Pant joined him in the middle on Friday, a little over a quarter of an hour before stumps on day two of the first Test. By the time the pint-sized left-handed destroyer had brought up his sixth Test hundred, not long after lunch on Saturday’s third day at the MA Chidambaram Stadium against Bangladesh, India’s captain-in-waiting was still some way from his fifth century, having made his way to 88.

In the time Gill, himself no slouch when it comes to rate of scoring, had scored 55 runs, Pant had clattered to 109, off 128 deliveries with 13 fours and four sixes. On its own, it was a special knock. When one factors in the backstory, the effort assumes a different hue, a fairytale-like dynamic.

Some 21 months back, Pant wasn’t sure if he would walk again. On the intervening night of December 30-31 in 2022, he was involved in a horrific single-car accident that threatened limb and life. For most, a return to normal life as we know it would have been the single largest consideration; for Pant, his normal life was battling it out in the unforgiving world of international cricket, so he left no stone unturned in his bid to re-embrace the normalcy he was accustomed to.

Through sheer dint of bloody-minded hard work that stemmed from the determination to make the most of his second life, as he calls it, Pant has astounded all with not just the pace of his recovery but the ease of his integration with the sport. At the beginning of 2024, a little over 12 months after the accident, not many would have pencilled in a return to international cricket in all three formats this quickly. And yet here is, before the end of the ninth month of the calendar year, with a World Cup winner’s medal around his neck and an Indian record-equalling sixth Test hundred by a stumper, a record he shares with his mentor, Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Pant a once-in-a-generation cricketer

India have been historically fortunate to be blessed with several once-in-a-generation cricketers. Like in the early 2000s when the team was populated by more than a half-dozen such great individuals, this current side too is replete with extraordinary talent – Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Jasprit Bumrah, R Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja. It will be neither outlandish nor premature to throw Pant into that mix.

Pant’s rapid climb up the performance and popularity charts is no accident. For someone so young – he is still only 26 – he possesses a maturity that is, simply put, mind-boggling. He has imbibed the best of Dhoni, including calmness under pressure and smart decision-making, and amalgamated those qualities with his own innate intelligence, be it as a battering ram with the willow in hand, as an unorthodox but hugely effective presence behind the sticks or as a captain with an intuitive feel for the game.

Somewhat fortunate in that he wasn’t forced by well-meaning but inflexible coaches to change his approach to batting, Pant has revelled in the freedom and the license to be himself that have been bestowed on him. Various coaches and captains have been patient with him, allowing him to make mistakes and learn from them rather than trying to alter his fundamental batting chromosome, and Pant has continued to justify the faith reposed in him.

On Saturday, the best of Pant was on full view. During a brief first-innings stint when he made 39 in his first appearance in the Test arena after 633 days, Pant had whetted the appetite. On this day, he built rip-roaringly on that effort with strokes that others can only dream of – at best. There were outrageous on-the-knee shovel-scoops against Bangladesh’s pacers and spinners alike, and the trademark one-handed waft, dancing down the ground and going through with the shot when defeated in the air, that sailed over long-off for six. It was quintessential Pant – exciting, dangerous, on-the-brink, but all only from the outsiders’ point of view. Pant knew exactly what he was doing. He is a master at working out the percentages – shades of Dhoni, anyone? – and is quick to size up how to be in the blue in the risk vs reward stakes. It’s not that he is infallible because that would make him beyond-human, but he is the ultimate benefactor of fortune favouring the brave.

The benevolent hand of the power above has allowed Pant to resume life after the terrible accident, none the worse physically but a lot wiser and introspective. Pant is on a mission to make this second chance at life count, and the early indications more than indicate that he is firmly on the right track. Welcome back, Rishabh Pant. We’ve missed you.