Rishabh Pant's mental strength and his background in gymnastics has helped the dashing wicketkeeper-batter to make an early recovery. Fifteen months after Pant was involved in a horrific car accident on the Delhi-Dehradun highway in December 2022, the wicketkeeper-batter received a green signal to play in the IPL, starting March 22.
"The mental strength and confidence inside him made us give our 100 per cent in doing the rehab part for him," Thulasi Yuvraj, a physiotherapist at the National Cricket Academy told 'bcci.tv'.
Yuvraj further revealed that a small jerk while being carried on a stretcher left the keeper-batter wincing in pain.
"When we came to know he had an accident, our head of sports science, Nitin bhai, basically told us just to go and take care of the initial stage of rehab. The first thing I could notice, he is having severe pain was when the 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."
Rishabh Pant's background in gymnastics touted as an asset:
"The doctors believed that he may take up to two years. Once he came to NCA, it was like a progressive phase for him," he added.
Pant had dabbled in gymnastics at a young age and that served as an asset in his recovery, according to Nishanta Bordoloi, the strength and conditioning coach at NCA,
"One thing was that Rishabh has a background for gymnastic which was a very very big asset for us because there are a few things that come naturally to him," Bordoloi said.
"Anytime he would feel he couldn't move, he could tumble or roll over back to his feet again. Which was so much of an added advantage for him. The beginning phase was to get foundational strength in him, making his body understand what the movements are like.
"It's completely reconstructed thing and once it's reconstructed it takes a lot of mind and body connection. The neural system need to understand, the muscle, tendons have to function," he added.
The Capitals will kickstart their IPL 2024 campaign against the Punjab Kings on March 23rd.
