Last week, a certain on social media left Indian cricket fans stupefied as they later went into overdrive. For long have fans been waiting for a massive positive update on Rishabh Pant, who suffered a tragic car accident last December, leaving him on the sidelines for more than eight months. And on Wednesday, last week, the first-ever video of Pant batting in a practice match went viral where the India star was even seen hitting one of those trademark sixes.
![Rohit Sharma has his say on Rishabh Pant's possible return Rohit Sharma has his say on Rishabh Pant's possible return](https://www.hindustantimes.com/ht-img/img/2023/08/22/550x309/pant_rohit_wc_1692708631317_1692708642311.jpg)
In December last year, Pant had suffered a car accident on his way home and has since been recovering at the National Cricket Academy. The India wicketkeeper-batter has in fact made a steady progress with a BCCI statement, from the previous month, even revealing that he has started batting and keeping wickets. But there was no footage of it until last week when he was seen walking out to bat in a practice game at JSW Vijayanagar amid the loud cheers. In the video, Pant faces three deliveries – one driven for a boundary, followed by a missed attempt off a cut shot and the last one lofted over extra cover for a six. He seemed at no discomfort in those three deliveries he faced.
Does this imply a positive update for India a month before the ODI World Cup? Speaking to the press on Monday after the squad announcement for the Asia Cup, India captain Rohit Sharma gave a ground-breaking update on Pant.
He said: “Unfortunately, Rishabh is not fit yet. According to today’s fitness report, Rishabh Pant is not ready for Asia Cup 2023 selection.”
Pant’s absence has hurt India on multiple occasions over last eight months, the most notable being in the World Test Championship final against Australia in June, leaving the team struggling to find an able wicketkeeper-batter to replace him. In ODIs, the trouble pertains to the middle-order line-up with KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer being out with injuries, although the duo will be back for Asia Cup.
It is impossible that Pant will be back in the ODI set-up for the World Cup tournament. If at all, he could be contention for the side that will travel to South Africa at the end of the year for a two-match Test series.