Pant’s inspiring return a testament to resilience

India's Rishabh Pant's valiant century in his comeback Test yesterday stands as a testament to his character, especially after having endured many challenges following his miraculous escape from a horrific car accident in late December 2022, just a week after competing in an away Test series against Bangladesh.

Although he could somehow escape from a burning car, Pant suffered multiple serious injuries, and it took him 14 months to return to competitive cricket through Indian Premier League (IPL) this year.

Pant, who subsequently had missed last year's ODI World Cup on home soil, where India finished as runners-up, was named in the T20 World Cup squad after scoring heavily for Delhi Capitals in IPL. And proving skeptics wrong again, he proceeded to play a significant part in India's first major silverware since 2013.

The success in T20 World Cup is surely the biggest achievement in Pant's career to date, but a no-holds-barred, Pant-esque performance after his return to cricket was still missing, which he delivered in style during his comeback Test -- coincidentally against the same opposition against whom he made a brilliant 104-ball 93 in the Mirpur Test before suffering that dreadful accident.

The opening day of the Chennai Test marked 635 days, to be specific, since Pant wore the white jersey for India once again. Although he made a good impression with the bat in his comeback innings, scoring 39 off 52 balls before getting caught behind, he made the most of it yesterday.

Resuming his overnight score of 12 runs, Pant -- whose strike rate (73.63) in Tests places him in fourth position among batters who have scored a minimum of 2000 runs -- characteristically played the aggressor role during a massive 167-run stand with Shubman Gill (119 not out). He completed his sixth Test ton off just 124 balls, equaling MS Dhoni's record for the most Test hundreds by an Indian wicketkeeper.

Pant had a lucky reprieve on 72 before his innings eventually stopped at 109 off 128 balls while trying to hit Mehedi Hasan Miraz for a successive boundary.

"Watching him score his first fifty and first hundred after his comeback gives me so much pleasure because I have seen him work so hard for it when he was trying to return from the injury," Gill told reporters in a press conference after the end of day's play yesterday.

Pant's journey from the horrific accident has been incredible, to say the least. Such remarkable comebacks are rare, and those who achieve them often find themselves on a path to greatness, and Pant certainly appears to be headed that way.