Rishabh Pant is back, and cricket is about to get crazier again

The moment anyone mutters Rishabh Pant’s name, an image gets formed. An image of a free-spirited soul, challenging the conventional notions of the sport, and daring people to believe what is indeed possible, courtesy of his stroke-play.

Back in December 2022, though, things took a very unexpected turn. On the cricketing front, everything was going alright for the wicket-keeper. He had not featured much in the T20 World Cup but was still one of India’s leading lights in the longest format.

Away from it, he met with an accident that shook the nation and the cricketing fraternity to its core. He suffered multiple fractures, ruptured ligaments and burns, and was, in fact, very lucky to survive a crash of that ilk.

Thankfully, all of that now seems in the past. It would have, of course, left a mark, both physically and mentally. But Pant is now mere hours away from his long-awaited return to competitive cricket, and that, if nothing else, does make it feel alright.

Rishabh Pant will return to competitive action during the IPL

This spell, undoubtedly, would have put things into more perspective. Staying away from the game for so long, especially for a cricketer at the height of his powers, would not have been easy. That said, this will only have increased his appetite and made him hungrier, which is not necessarily a bad thing.

The first team to benefit from Pant’s return will be the Delhi Capitals. Last season, they missed his presence, both as captain and as a buccaneering middle-order batter. It will be unrealistic to expect the wicket-keeper to hit his straps straightaway and reincarnate as the batter he was pre-accident, but it will also be naïve to think he will not have an impact at all in the IPL.

Down the line, it will be beneficial for India as well. The T20 World Cup might come too soon (or it may not, who knows), but a fit and firing Pant is a luxury, and one that the Men In Blue have sorely missed in the past year and a half.

More than these materialistic or statistical gains, though, the wicket-keeper's return could galvanise a nation. At a time when fans on social media debate which player is better, often at the cost of ridiculing the other, there is a sense that the DC captain will be welcomed with open arms by one and all.

Much of that, unsurprisingly, is because of the ordeal he has gone through and the determination he has shown to arrive at the end of that dark tunnel. But it is also because in Pant, a lot of the youth see themselves – this almost brash exuberance, that they can do anything and everything their way and still succeed.

Oh, there, Pant is almost incomparable. Some of the stuff he does on a cricket field can barely be imagined by most cricketers, let alone be pulled off. There are also facepalm moments, but those are usually overshadowed by the jaw-dropping bits, which make you want to reminisce a particular innings or match long after it has finished.

This is also an incredible story of hope and inspiration. One wrong turn (quite literally) could have snatched away a career and led to a lifetime of regrets, if Pant had allowed it to be that way. But he did not, and he is now a beacon for all those who might feel hard done by something unexpected, yet, dream to make it big.

Life, some would say, is all about second chances, even if they do mean it metaphorically. For Pant, this is his second chance. Almost bestowed upon him because the powers above would have felt cricket would have been a much poorer sport without this enigmatic wicket-keeper batter, who, irrespective of the team he represents, seems to evoke a smile every time he bats.

About 16 months ago, the entire cricketing fraternity held their collective breath as gruesome images emerged from a horrific accident. There was concern and worry, purely because one of their favourite sons had to go through such an ordeal.

Now, in March 2024, the entire cricketing fraternity will hold its collective breath again. This time, because they do not know what audacious and outlandish piece of batting Pant will come up with.

That he is back on the field is a victory in itself, and a personal triumph of recovery that might likely shape him as a cricketer too. And now that he is back, expect cricket to be a whole lot crazier, and just feel alright again. It is what happens when Rishabh Pant is around.