Former England captain Nasser Hussain is hoping for box office cricketer Rishabh Pant's successful return in 2024 after his recovery from the near-fatal car crash a year ago. It was on a fateful December evening in 2022 when Pant met with a horrific car accident. The wicketkeeper-batsman has made strong progress since then and is likely to return to cricket ahead of the T20 World Cup in the US and West Indies. “That was such a serious accident. The whole world held its breath and recovery was slow,” Hussain was quoted as saying by the ICC. “You follow on social media, on my phone and the first steps to then walk. scenes in the gym and then scenes where he's playing a bit of cricket, scenes where he's with Ricky (Ponting).”
“I was traveling with Ricky in the summer in the Ashes, and Ricky texted him 'how's progress going', and he's a box-office cricketer.” After Pant's absence, KL Rahul has picked up his boots again and put up a good show in the recent ODI World Cup, scoring 452 runs at an average of 75.33.
“India have done well without him (Pant) as KL has come in and been brilliant in all formats,” Hussain noted.
“They will continue to be brilliant. They are lucky to have both of them, but Rishabh Pant was the box office before his injury and will hopefully be the box office after his injury.” Hussain also earmarked young opener Shubman Gill to return to form in Test cricket.
“He (Gill) had a very good three-quarters, or nine-tenths of 2023. You must have learned so much with people like Rohit Sharma on the other side,” Hussain said.
“Maybe he just fell away at the end. Maybe that disease got to him a little bit, and he just formed within a month. We take it way too short when we're in the broadcasting business.
“He is a super talent and he will be the next sensation for India in the coming years. So hopefully he has a good 2024.”
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