India wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant will take another few months to get back on the cricket field after his horrific car crash early last year but the cricketer is doing all he can to reduce the doctor's timeline by at least "6 months".
Pant has been told by his doctor that it would take him a total of 16-18 months to recover fully from his injuries. Pant had multiple burn injuries on his body along with serious damage on his right leg.
Pant's knee turned 180 degrees after the crash
The 26-year-old underwent a couple of knee surgeries on his right leg which was turned "180 degrees to the right" after the accident. He took help from a local to get his knee back in place.
Pant also revealed that he would have partially lost his right leg had there been any nerve damage.
"There was someone around so I asked if he could help getting the leg back in the position. He helped the knee get back in place.
"If there was any nerve damage, there was a possibility of amputation. That is when I felt scared," Pant told Star Sports as he opened up on his New Year car accident for the first time in over a year since the crash.
Pant cut off from rest of the world during recovery
Pant is currently focusing on his recovery at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru and is trying to shut out the outside world during this process.
"I am focusing on recovery cut off from the world. It helps me in recovering fast, especially when the injury is so serious. For recovery you have to do the same thing every day. It's boring, it's irritating, it's frustrating, but you have to do it."
Trying to cut down on doctor's timeline for his return
Pant is not planning too far ahead for his comeback but is trying his best to cut down on the expected recovery time given to him by his doctors.
"Till the time I start playing cricket, I don't want to plan much for the future. I asked the doctor how long will it take for me to recover?
"I told him that everybody is speaking different things, but you will give me the most clarity about it. He said it would take 16 to 18 months. I told the doctor from whatever timeline you give me, I will reduce six months from it," he added.
Pant is expected to make his professional return to cricket in this year's Indian Premier League (IPL 2024) where he will be leading the Delhi Capitals, if he fully recovers in time.
