With Rishabh Pant’s comeback becoming a big talking point ahead of the IPL 2024 season, the National Cricket Academy (NCA) physios and coaches detailed the wicketkeeper batter’s remarkable rehab program.
Fourteen months out from his horrific car crash, Pant is gearing up for a return with the Delhi Capitals in the IPL and the experts at NCA have lauded his commitment during the recovery phase in Bengaluru. In a video released by BCCI, NCA physio Thulasi Yuvraj recalled the degree of pain Pant endured in the early phase.
“The first thing I could notice was that he was having severe pain when a 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,” Yuvraj said.
Pant’s resilience would later become the cornerstone of the work put in by the NCA staff, Yuvraj remarked.
‘Doctors believed he may take two years’
“The mental strength and confidence inside him made us give our 100 percent in doing the rehab part for him. The doctors believed that he may take up to two years. Once he came to NCA, it was like a progressive phase for him.”
NCA physio Dhananjay Kaushik lauded Pant’s focus on nutrition during the rehab, stating he had “ticked all the boxes.”
“If someone needs to be commended on his nutrition, it is Rishabh himself. If you look at overall things, when we started the rehab and where he is right now, this guy has done a lot of hard work.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆
In Part 2 of the #MiracleMan, we bring you insights from @RishabhPant17‘s road to recovery, where determination and perseverance ultimately triumph.
From intense rehabilitation sessions, training regime, and nutrition – the… pic.twitter.com/83YZExqkIa
— BCCI (@BCCI) March 16, 2024
“Whether it’s nutrition, his own recovery, his sleeping pattern, he checked all the boxes of recovery in a very fine manner,” Kaushik added.
Meanwhile, Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala, director of sports medicine at Kokilaben Hospital, Mumbai appreciated the effort put in by NCA and Pant in unison. “The NCA keeping a physiotherapist on a daily basis, almost staying with him for the last one year, working out with him and making sure to push him to the optimum but not too much…making sure that the determination and intensity was there each and every day. All of that has made a big difference.”
“So, if we see why has he returned so quickly, six months earlier than anticipated, I think it’s just because of his drive, and the whole expertise on the rehab cricket has helped to him get back to his cricket aspect much earlier than expected,” Pardiwala added.
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