Rishabh Pant is the India superstar who stared at death

New York Times

4 days ago

Rishabh Pant does things his way. Whether that is batting, wicketkeeping or just his general attitude, he is box office.
He set the tone in the first Test of this summer's series against England, at Headingley. Having reached a first-innings century with a one-handed six off Shoaib Bashir, Pant performed a back-flip, to the crowd's delight — and his own.
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If you trapped the essence of Pant in a bottle, this would be it. Not only because of the entertainment value, unorthodox style and daring timing of the shot and the audacity of the flip, but because of what the 27-year-old has been through.
That century in Leeds last month was just his second in Tests since a car accident in 2022 that left him wondering if his 'time in this world was over,' as he revealed in a 2024 interview with Star Sports. Pant sustained serious injuries to his face, wrist, ankle, toe and back, and recalled in the interview that his right knee had turned 90 degrees to the right in the aftermath. He was out of competitive cricket for 16 months, returning in time for the 2024 edition of the star-studded Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 one-day tournament.
In that match at Headingley, Pant went on to become the first India wicketkeeper to score two centuries in the same Test, before scoring a quickfire 65 in the tourists' second Test win at Edgbaston.
He added 74 before running himself out in the first innings at Lord's, where he injured his finger and did not keep wicket. At Old Trafford he scored his fifth 50+ score of the series — returning to bat on day two, effectively on one leg, after retiring hurt on day one with a foot injury after attempting an audacious reverse sweep off Chris Woakes. He will likely miss the fifth Test at the Oval next week but has been one of the stars of the series.
His recovery from that crash, and return to the top of the world game, has been quite something.
'The first time I saw Rishabh was in 2010 or 2011. He had come for trials in Roorkee (roughly 200km from Delhi). He was 13-14,' Devender Sharma, one of Pant's earliest coaches in Delhi, tells The Athletic. 'At the time, he would only hit 'lifts', so we worked on his defence, since every ball cannot be hit high.'
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What stood out to Sharma was the extra second that Pant always had when playing his shots. 'He has the time and an inborn ability, a God-given gift,' he says.
Given Delhi's status as one of India's premier cricketing districts – Virat Kohli, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, and Shikhar Dhawan, among others, are from the capital – Pant followed Sharma's advice and trialled in Rajasthan, a state in north-west India over 400km from Delhi, and was selected in their under-16 team. 'Unfortunately, outsiders were dropped that year, and he had to return,' Sharma says.
PPant then trained at and represented Sonnet Cricket Club in Delhi under Sharma and the late Tarak Sinha, often traveling from Roorkee to do so. In one of his league games, he played against former India international and now Delhi coach Sarandeep Singh.
'He scored a 100 against us at 16, 17 years old, hammering every bowler,' Sarandeep tells The Athletic. 'We had a few India players in the team — me, (former pace bowler) Amit Bhandari… We kept thinking, 'What is this boy all about? He doesn't have any fear, he's batting beautifully and is confident all the time'.
'I asked him, 'You don't feel any pressure of getting out because you keep hitting all the time?'. He said, 'Paaji (a Hindi term of respect), this is my game. If I am confident about hitting you, I will follow my instincts, and I am not going to change'.'
More runs in league cricket and at the under-19 level for Delhi followed before Pant's debut in the Ranji Trophy, the top first-class cricket tournament in India, against Bengal in October 2015, where his wicketkeeping stood out.
A key contributor to Pant's proficiency behind the stumps was the background he had in gymnastics from his early teen years. 'That has helped him move, jump, (with) his reaction time. Even when batting, you can see the spark in his foot movement,' Soham Desai, India's former high-performance coach, tells The Athletic.
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Pant's mental fortitude, meanwhile, was built by overcoming setbacks from a young age. 'He came from far, stayed in my house (when) we played matches together, lived alone (away from his parents), struggled a lot in his early days — and that's what made him mentally very tough,' Sharma says.
Pant starred for the India team that finished as runners-up at the 2016 Under-19 World Cup, scored a triple-century in the Ranji Trophy for Delhi against Maharashtra (becoming the third-youngest Indian to do so in first-class cricket) and was picked by the Delhi Daredevils in the 2016 IPL auction. But another challenge arose when his father, Rajendra, passed away due to a cardiac arrest the following April.
'It was a very difficult time for him,' Sharma says. 'I spoke to him, motivating him, telling him that this is a part of life, that our lives are not in our control.'
Soon after, Pant was fast-tracked into the India setup while legendary wicketkeeper and former captain MS Dhoni was still around the team. He made his Test debut against England in August 2018, taking seven catches in difficult conditions at Nottingham's Trent Bridge as India won the match by 203 runs.
Pant's career trajectory over the next four years saw applause and amazement replace the initial criticism over his wicketkeeping and no-holds-barred batting. He helped India win the 2018-19 and 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar series away in Australia. Test centuries in England, Australia and South Africa, a feat achieved by no other Indian wicketkeeper, all came at strike-rates of 70 or better.
'People don't think someone can bat the way he does,' says Sarandeep. 'We have this old theory that in Tests, you go inside, take your time, leave the ball, see how the wicket behaves, what the bowler is doing. He has none of that: 'The ball is coming, I've seen it, I have to hit it for four'.'
Pant is the showstopper on the pitch, but very different off it. 'Rishabh looks like a very flamboyant and flashy guy, but he is an old soul in a new body, a genuine guy,' Desai says.
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But with Pant, reality checks often accompany success. In December 2022, he crashed on a highway while driving from Roorkee to Delhi, having just returned from a trip to Dubai. Pant was airlifted out of his car, which had suffered significant damage, and rushed to hospital.
'He usually visits me at home when he returns from a foreign country after a game,' Sharma says. 'After his accident, I went to see him, and it was very sad to see him in that state. He was broken, and asked me if he would be able to play again. He had surgery and so many stitches on his body.'
The impact extended further. His nutritionist Shweta Shah, who he began working with several years earlier after criticism over his fitness, explained to The Athletic that medication and trauma had slowed down his digestion. 'We needed to rebuild from within,' she says.
Shah reduced Pant's intake of meat, a psychological challenge given his love of chicken. 'Post-injury, I explained how his body needed lighter, tissue-healing meals and he understood the importance,' Shah said. 'We replaced (meat) with plant-based proteins, vegetable stews, khichdi (a dish containing rice and pulses)… We also cut down on the wheat-heavy foods and fried snacks he grew up enjoying.'
After being discharged from hospital, Pant rehabbed under Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala, a renowned orthopaedic surgeon, away from the public spotlight at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru in south India. Sharma recalls that despite Pant's doubts, his commitment never wavered. 'The doctors told him to do rehab exercises twice a day — he would do it three times. He started in the morning and continued until 11 or 12 at night,' he said.
Desai had seen that commitment during Pant's time with the India team. 'If you ask him to do something for eight to 10 reps (of an exercise), he'll do two or three more; to hold an isometric position for 45 seconds, he'll do it for 55,' he says. 'Now, I don't give him anything around 17, his (jersey) number. Because if I do, like (ask for) 12 or 15 reps, he will do 17.'
Pant's mental fortitude was crucial to his recovery, too.
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'(Dr Pardiwala) says that Rishabh has recovered — along with the rehab, training and treatment — (because of) his mind,' Desai says. 'If someone thinks something can be done in 10 days, he will want to do it in 10 hours. Creating ceilings, boundaries, limits — that context does not exist within him.'
The car crash altered Pant's worldview.
'Earlier, it was all about cricket but after the accident, he has slowed down and is seeing things differently. He understands there is life beyond and bigger than cricket,' Desai says.
Becoming captain of Lucknow in the IPL and deputy to the Test side's new skipper Shubman Gill has helped him mature too.
Pant's return after receiving clearance from the NCA to resume cricketing activities was complicated.
'The flip he did after scoring a 100, we used to do them in the gym, because that is a great way to train explosiveness,' Desai says. 'These were not in the training programme. I used to write 'Rishabh Pant Time' in the programme, and he would understand that is (when) he would need to do it.
'Those words were not used for the first one-and-a-half to two-and-a-half months after he came back. He was very fearful of hurting himself again. But our conversation was, 'Rishabh, jab ye karenge (when you do this), we are back'.'
It took two-and-a-half months, but eventually Pant was practising his flips again. A return was in the offing.
At the 2024 IPL, Pant's first time in the competition since his accident, saw him score 446 runs in 13 matches. His return to Test cricket began with a century against Bangladesh in Chennai, followed by a 105-ball 99 against New Zealand in Bengaluru.
The next 13 Test innings brought just 397 runs, prompting questions over Pant's place in the side. The 2025 IPL, which saw him leave Delhi to join Lucknow and become the most expensive player in IPL history at ₹27 crore ($3.1million/£2.3m at current exchange rates), was largely unsuccessful too. A 151-run output with a strike-rate of just 107.1 in 13 matches as team captain brought widespread criticism.
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Pant turned to Sharma for guidance. 'I advised him to slow down his strokes, reduce his aggression and stroke-play, so that fewer mistakes are made. In the IPL, six out of 10 days, he was getting out playing reverse shots, so he worked on that,' Sharma says.
An unbeaten 118 off 61 balls in Lucknow's final league-phase game against eventual champions Royal Challengers Bangalore signalled that Pant may be back.
This England series so far has offered more evidence he might be.
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