Rishabh Pant met with a horror car accident in December 2022, which left him with a severely bent knee and considerable mental trauma. Fourteen months later, he is clear to play the 2024 IPL – what was his journey back to recovery?
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Trigger warning: The article details the aftermath of Pant’s traumatic accident. It could be potentially distressing for some readers.
“I couldn’t believe he came out alive”
The doctors and physios have detailed Pant’s return to full fitness, lauding his commitment to his recovery period, initially slated to be two years. The images of the ghastly accident that left Pant blood-soaked have been shared by Umesh, a family friend, on The Indian Express, which makes his comeback story even more inspiring.
Umesh recounts: “His teeth were the only thing that wasn’t red. When I saw the burning car in the accident video, I couldn’t believe he came out alive.”
Devender Sharma, an assistant to Pant’s childhood coach, provided more details. “His muscles were hanging out of his body. From the back of his neck to the lower waist, you could see his bones. It took five hours to put on the bandage. He was given anaesthesia twice in the process.
“His body looked like a piece of wood, peeled completely.”
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆
In Part 2 of the #MiracleMan, we bring you insights from @RishabhPant17's road to recovery, where determination and perseverance ultimately triumph.
From intense rehabilitation sessions, training regime, and nutrition – the… pic.twitter.com/83YZExqkIa
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 16, 2024
“None of the ligaments were spared”
According to doctors who treated him, Pant’s knee was lying at almost 90 degrees to the normal position, with glass pieces all over his leg. In the process of being pulled out of the car, Pant’s skin had gotten scraped off. “Talking about the right knee, none of the ligaments were spared during that accident.
“You talk about ACL and PCL (anterior and posterior cruciate ligament), lateral collateral ligament, medial collateral ligament, popliteus muscle in the lower leg, as well as part of the quadriceps… you name it and he didn’t have it,” says Dhananjaya Kaushik, a physio at the National Cricket Academy.
Another physio at the NCA, Thulasi Yuvraj, recalls the amount of pain Pant was in. “The first thing I could notice was that he was having severe pain when a ward boy was trying to push the stretcher towards the room and it slightly hit the pathway.”
“He started screaming with so much pain. It was a simple jerk but it felt so painful, he cried immediately. Then I realised, oh something big has happened.”
The journey back to recovery
Kaushik admits the biggest challenge was to ensure the injury did not relapse and that the NCA were not rushing him. The fact that his ankle, on the same side as the injured knee, was also damaged, meant they had to tread carefully.
The NCA first looked to increase his foundational strength in him. With a reconstructed knee, the task was to teach the leg what movements felt like. “It takes a lot of mind and body connection [to get a reconstructed body part working again]. The nervous system has to understand what it needs to do, the muscles and tendons have to function.”
Pant’s focus on his nutrition, his recovery and his sleeping patterns all worked towards his early return, and while the NCA played a big part, with at least one physio working with him daily, in the end, it was the cricketer’s determination that helped him pass through the toughest phase of his life.
