Nasser Hussain hopeful of 'box office' Rishabh Pant's successful return in 2024

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Dubai, December 31: Former England captain Nasser Hussain is hopeful India's Rishabh Pant makes a "box office" return in 2024 following his recovery from the near-fatal car crash a year ago.

It was in the early hours of December 30th in 2022 when Pant suffered a horrific car accident, which saw him miss action for the entire 2023, including the World Test Championhsip final and the ODI World Cup.

However, the wicketkeeper-batter has made strong progress since then and is likely to return to cricket ahead of the T20 World Cup in USA and the West Indies in June-July next year.

"That was such a serious accident. The whole world held its breath and it has been a slow recovery," Hussain was quoted as saying by the ICC as Pant is likely to feature in the upcoming IPL 2024 for Delhi Capitals.

"You follow on social media, on my phone and the initial first walking steps to then scenes in the gym and then scenes of him playing a bit of cricket, scenes of him with Ricky (Ponting). I travelled with Ricky in the summer in the Ashes, and Ricky was texting him 'how's the progress coming along', and he is a box office cricketer."

Following Pant's absence, India have used Ishan Kishan and Jitesh Sharma in the wicketkeeper role, but it's KL Rahul, who has filled in the void and produced a good show at the recent ODI World Cup, amassing 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'll continue to be brilliant. They're lucky to have both of them, but Rishabh Pant, before his injury, was box office, and hopefully after his injury, will be box office as well."

Rahul, who has kept wickets in ODIs, also donned the gloves in the first Test against South Africa on Boxing Day, and is expected to continue in the role for the second Test, starting on January 3 following a splendid century.

(With PTI inputs)