Akram lauds ‘miracle kid’ Pant’s comeback

Pakistan legend Wasim Akram has hailed India's wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant's heroic Test return with a magnificent hundred against Bangladesh in Chennai after recovering from a fatal road accident.

"Look at Pant's performance, the miracle that he has performed by showing he is superhuman by returning from his tragedy. The way his accident happened, we were all worried in Pakistan, I was worried and tweeted about him," Akram spoke to Sportskeeda. 

What was to be a surprise visit to his mother in December 2022 went horribly wrong when the car Pant was driving on that fateful Friday morning hit a central divider, flipped over and caught fire.

He underwent multiple surgeries, wondering if he would ever play the game again before returning to competitive cricket in the Indian Premier League this year.

Now 26, doubts lingered whether he could cope with the rigour of five-day cricket ahead of the two-Test series against Bangladesh, despite having been part of the India squad that won the T20 World Cup in June.

In his first Test since that horrific accident, Pant made 39 before exploding in the second innings, smashing 109 off 128 balls to equal idol Mahendra Singh Dhoni's record of six test hundreds by an Indian wicketkeeper.

"The way he used to play in Test cricket, the way he performed in Australia with the century then. The way he batted against England, playing a reverse-sweep against James Anderson in Test cricket, even Pat Cummins. He's special," Akram said.

"Especially what he has been through in that horrific accident, coming back from that, how mentally strong that boy must be. That's a story to be told for generations and generations, in my opinion, to motivate young people of the world. You can come back the way Pant did. He came back and averaged 40 in the IPL, 446 runs at a strike rate of 155, woh miracle baccha hai (he's a miracle kid)," he added.