Sunil Gavaskar, an Indian batting icon, anticipates Rishabh Pant to have problems in the early phases of his injury recovery during IPL 2024.
Rishabh Pant, 26, was in a severe vehicle accident in December 2022, resulting in ruptured ligaments in his right knee that required surgery. After a lengthy and tough recuperation, Pant will return to the cricket pitch to captain the Delhi Capitals (DC) in the IPL.
Sunil Gavaskar spoke with Star Sports on how recovering from a knee injury may affect Pant’s batting and wicketkeeping.
“It’ll be very difficult. But the good thing is he (Pant) has played some cricket. So he has got some practice. To get fluency in batting is a little tough. When you talk of a knee injury, the pivoting that takes place. Wicketkeeping is difficult as well, but even in batting, the knee is quite important. So, maybe, in the beginning, we won’t see the real Rishabh Pant that we are used to.”
Sunil Gavaskar
Gavaskar said that Pant’s comeback adds to the excitement of the IPL, saying:
“To find a wicketkeeper like him who comments from behind the stumps, that’s full-on entertainment because there are a lot of wicket-keepers who would like to disturb your concentration by saying different things…but Rishabh Pant has the ability to say such a thing that whoever he is targetting, they also laugh, they also enjoy it. But when enjoying it, their concentration goes down a bit, right? The advantage is for his team then.”
Sunil Gavaskar
Pant last played competitive cricket during India’s tour of Bangladesh at the end of 2022.
The southpaw missed the whole IPL 2023 season, as DC finished second to last with only five victories in 14 games during his absence.
“My initials are SMG and he has Shubh-Man Gill in his name” – Sunil Gavaskar
When questioned about Shubman Gill’s future leadership spell with the Gujarat Titans (GT), Sunil Gavaskar joked about the two of them having similarities.
Shubman Gill, standing at 24 years young, carved an epic IPL 2023 tale. He conquered the run-scoring summit with 890 runs across 17 clashes. But now, change sweeps in. Pandya’s trade to Mumbai Indians leaves Gill to steer Gujarat Titans through IPL 2024’s battles.
“That is going to be the most important thing: the way he can handle the captaincy. Will it affect and impact his batting? And the second thing is there is a commonality in our initials; both of us are SG’s, and if we go even further, my initials are SMG, and he has Shubh-Man Gill in his name.”
Sunil Gavaskar
It is worth noting that Gavaskar was also an opening batsman who led India in the 1980s.
Meanwhile, Shubman Gill will take over as captain of GT when they face MI in the IPL 2024 season opening on March 24 in Ahmedabad.