New York: Almost 16 months after his life-threatening accident, wicket-keeper Rishabh Pant is all set to wear the Indian jersey as team India gears up for their opening clash of the T20 World Cup 2024 against the minnows Ireland at the Nassau County ground here on Wednesday, June 5.
On March 23 this year, Pant made a remarkable comeback to competitive cricket after 14 months with the Indian Premier League (IPL) game between Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings where he got a standing ovation from the crowd. However, it never seemed like he was away from the game for such a prolonged period. He was the leading run-getter for his franchise with 446 runs under his name.
However, the southpaw batter asserted that he is more eager to wear a different shade of blue -- the 'India Blue' to be specific. "Getting back on the field with an Indian jersey on is a different feeling altogether. this is something I missed a lot...Hopefully, I (can) make it count and make it better from here," Pant told BCCI.TV on the sidelines of India's first net session ahead of the warm-up game against Bangladesh on June 1.
Pant was accompanied by his teammate Suryakumar Yadav during this interaction and recalled the time how his presence helped him cope with the loneliness of his injury management programme in the Bengaluru-based National Cricket Academy.
"Seeing the team here and meeting them again, spending time, having fun with them, having a conversation with them, I really enjoyed," Pant added.
The 26-year-old, who is the highest run scorer for the Delhi Capitals, is slowly getting back into the groove. He also believes that this year's T20 World Cup will provide exposure to the game of cricket and USA cricket as well.
"We are used to playing in certain countries but this is a different prospect. It has opened up a different channel for sport because I feel cricket is growing around the world and...getting the exposure here would be nice for cricket as well as USA cricket," he said.
He spoke about the drop-in pitches that will be used during the coveted tournament and also the bright sunshine that he and the rest of the team is getting used to.
"New pitches are there. I'm just getting used to the conditions. The sun is a little bit brighter here, so just getting used to the conditions over here. Let's see how it goes," Pant concluded.
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