Former Australia Captain Ricky Ponting has provided Rishabh Pant warning for the side ahead of the Border Gavaskar Trophy. He also praised Wk Batter on his rise after his terrific accident and also hailed him as a match-winner.
Having worked with Rishabh Pant in Delhi’s camp in the IPL, Ponting was constantly in touch with him during the rehab. The 26-year-old sustained multiple injuries after his car crashed into the divider at the Delhi Dehradun highway.
However, Pant made a stunning comeback this year featuring in competitive cricket for the first time since his car accident during the IPL 2024 season. He was part of India’s T20 World Cup-winning campaign in June.
With India set to tour Australia for a five-match series later this year, Pant is expected to play a key role for the team in the middle order.
“We’ve all seen him play and heard him in the stump mic, he’s an infectious character to have around the group. He loves his cricket, he’s a winner, that’s what he is. He doesn’t just play to make a few runs and be out there for the fun of it.”
“He must have 4 or 5 Test hundreds already and he’s got about nine 90s as well. [MS] Dhoni played for 120 Tests (90) and made 3 or 4 hundreds (6), this is how good this guy (Pant) is. He’s a serious cricketer,” said Ponting.
Ponting hailed Pant for his earlier comeback to cricket than expected. “It’s a remarkable comeback. If you can see even his leg now and listen to the stories he tells about what he confronted during his car accident, just the mental scarring that comes with that but the physical side and the rehab he went through, I didn’t think he would play last year’s IPL (2024).”
“But 12 months before, he said ‘Don’t worry about me, I guarantee you I’ll be right for the IPL’. We thought he’d be able to bat and we might have to use him as a sub player (Impact Player) but he kept every game, was one of our leading run-scorers, bats No. 3 in the T20 World Cup, and is part of a World Cup winning team and is named in the Test squad now,” he added.
Coming to the tournament, The first test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy will be played between November 22 – 26 at Perth Stadium.
