From serious car crash to IPL record for 'remarkable' Pant

Two years after Rishabh Pant feared his cricket career was over in a serious car crash, the wicketkeeper has become the most expensive player in Indian Premier League history.

The 27-year-old left-hander recovered from his injuries to make a stunning return to elite cricket and was part of the India team that won the T20 World Cup in June.

On Sunday Lucknow Super Giants paid 270 million rupees -- $3.2 million -- at auction for his services in the upcoming season of the lucrative IPL.

That broke the 2023 record of 247.5 million rupees Kolkata shelled out for Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc.

Lucknow coach Justin Langer called Pant a "character that can lift a team", the Times of India reported.

Lucknow's mentor, veteran Indian bowler Zaheer Khan, said he had spotted Pant's "spark" when he was a 19-year-old player in Delhi.

"(The) way he has evolved as a cricketer is remarkable," he told the newspaper.

In December 2022, Pant suffered multiple injuries after his Mercedes crashed near New Delhi.

His vehicle flipped and caught fire, and Pant suffered a damaged ligament in his right knee and a hurt wrist and ankle.

But Pant battled back through an intensive rehabilitation programme, and led Delhi Capitals in the IPL this year with his no-fear attacking batting.

Pant himself called his return "nothing short of a miracle".

- 'Lots of struggles' -

Pant grew up in the city of Roorkee in the northern state of Uttarakhand, sharing a one-room home with his sister and parents.

His cricket-mad businessman father told him to pursue his dream of playing for his country.

"He told me he will support me -– go and have fun playing," he recalled in an interview with the Indian Express newspaper.

"What more could I have asked for as a boy?"

As a teenager Pant would spend weekends travelling with his mother, a teacher, on a night bus to the capital New Delhi -- six hours each way -- for cricket coaching.

"There were lots of such struggles in those days," he told the Indian Express, describing how he would catch some sleep at a Sikh temple before playing.

Pant is a mainstay of the India team, scoring his first Test century in his third match against England in 2018.

In September, Pant announced his return to Tests in style with an attacking century against Bangladesh in Chennai, smashing bowlers to every part of the ground and receiving a standing ovation.

"Rishabh's history in the IPL and in the sport of cricket is unparallelled in terms of his skill," Lucknow owner Shashwat Goenka said of the record buy.

On Monday, Lucknow posted a picture of Pant leaping to catch a ball during the first Test against Australia in Perth -- joking in its comment "when did Spider-Man start to fly?".

For selectors Pant epitomises the determination to succeed against the odds.

"This game will test your limits, knock you down, lift you up, and throw you back again," he posted on social media earlier this year.

"But those who love it rise stronger every time."