'It is miraculous': Aakash Chopra on Rishabh Pant potential comeback in IPL 2024
Former India cricketer Aakash Chopra has expressed his views on Rishabh Pant's potential comeback for Delhi Capitals (DC) in the upcoming Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 season, saying the wicketkeeper batter's inclusion to the squad will be miraculous after recovering from severe injuries sustained in a severe car crash.
Pant miraculously survived a near-fatal car crash on December 30, 2022. The left-handed wicketkeeper-batter has been doing extensive rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru.
He has been making remarkable progress in his recovery, with him being fit for IPL 2024 looking as a realistic possibility for making a return to competitive cricket.
"There are filtered reports that Rishabh Pant will be seen playing this year in the IPL, which is absolutely phenomenal. It is miraculous, considering where he came from and where he has reached," Chopra said on his YouTube channel.
"Cricket is a very small part of life. It's very important but cricket is there only if there is life. The sort of accident it was, I was just happy that he was alive. I am pretty sure he would have had to work very hard during the journey from there to here because it's difficult and extremely lonely as well," he added.
Chopra also believes that Pant will not only play but also lead the Delhi Capitals as their captain adding that the 26-year-old's presence as a batter will resolve a massive problem for the Delhi-based franchise.
Chopra additionally asserts that Pant will assume not just a playing role but also leadership duties as the captain of the Delhi Capitals while adding that the inclusion of the 26-year-old as a batter will effectively address a significant issue for the franchise based in Delhi.
"He will bat and captain. With batting, he solves an extremely important problem for the Delhi Capitals because he can bat slightly down the order as, unfortunately, all their good players are top-order batters."
Earlier, Delhi Capitals head coach Ricky Ponting had also said wicketkeeper-batter is ‘very confident’ of playing every game in IPL 2024, but added that he’s still unsure of him to captain the side or be the keeper.
Pant has amassed 2838 runs at an average of 34.61 and a strike rate of 147.97 in 98 IPL games with the highest score of 128 not out.