India keeper-batter Rishabh Pant made a stunning comeback to Test cricket. He missed 16 months of cricket due to multiple injuries suffered after a horrific car accident and made his return to professional cricket during IPL 2024. Since then, he has won the T20 World Cup 2024 and got back to India’s red-ball squad after doing well in the first round of the Duleep Trophy.
Pant contributed a crucial 109 runs in the second innings of the first Test match between the hosts and Bangladesh at MA Chidambaram Stadium, helping them post a huge target. With a century of his own, Gill gave him solid midfield support and changed the game for India. In the last innings, the team captained by Rohit Sharma kept Bangladesh to 234 runs, winning by 280 runs.
The 37-year-old talked about the difficult circumstances the cricketer from Haridwar faced and acknowledged Pant’s role in India’s victory at the T20 World Cup. He also discussed how Pant’s early experience playing domestic cricket aided in his immediate success as a member of the Test team.
After the match, Rohit praised Pant for his incredible return to form
He’s experienced some incredibly trying situations. It was amazing to see how he handled himself throughout those trying moments. At the post-match presentation, Rohit stated, “This is the format he loves the most. He came back in the IPL, followed by a very successful World Cup.”
“We never worried about what he would do with the bat because we always knew what he had—both the bat and the gloves. Giving him the game time was all that was involved. Kudos to him as well; he played the Duleep Trophy, prepared for this Test match, and immediately made an impact on the outcome of the game,” he continued.
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In the meantime, India has selected an unchanged team for the second Test match against Bangladesh, which will take place at Green Park in Kanpur and get underway on September 27.