The West Indies cricketer also went through a horrifying car accident that required two surgeries for him to be able to play at the international stage again. He had a word of motivation for Pant.
Reminiscing lessons from his personal experience with an equally horrifying and life-threatening car crash, Nicholas Pooran came up with a motivational message for Rishabh Pant. Pooran, who overcame a terrible accident eight years ago via two surgeries on his legs, says he has been in touch with the Indian wicketkeeper-batter and giving him his perspective and motivation.
Pant has been sidelined from the game for an unspecified length of time after undergoing the most brutal car crash in December last year when he was travelling through the Delhi-Dehradun highway early morning to meet his family. The clips from the accident went viral and sent a shockwave through the cricketing fraternity, where fans and teammates were only thankful that the cricketer survived, even as he received various injuries and had a surgery for knee ligament done in a Mumbai hospital recently.
Still on crutches and barely able to walk, the middle-order maverick, however, can take motivation through this phase from Pooran, who had his accident when he had just turned 19, seven years younger than the fellow left-hand batter.
In January 2015, Pooran was returning from a training session in Trinidad & Tobago when he swerved away to avoid an oncoming car. Unable to control the vehicle, he bumped into a sand heap and went back on the road when another car crossing by collided with his. The cricketer underwent surgeries to repair the left patellar tendon which had ruptured and on his right leg’s ankle for another fracture.
Speaking ahead of Lucknow Super Giants’ (LSG) next IPL 2023 encounter on Saturday (April 15) against the Punjab Kings (PBKS), Pooran said it’s these experiences that he has been able to bring to the table while discussing and trying to inspire Rishabh Pant, whose recovery trail would be long but will be over at some point, allowing the match-winner to blaze off with his willow once again.
“It’s very challenging. It’s one where no one understands,” Pooran was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo. “Sometimes, I can remember… I have been chatting with Rishabh obviously. Both of us have a really good relationship. But there’s times when you go into a place where you’re very depressed, and frustrated, because you want the healing process to happen so fast. But it’s difficult.”
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Pooran said the toughest thing to do is to not lose hope when the circumstances leave an athlete such as Pant helpless, unable to walk and do on-field activities like he did before the accident. The left-hander said it takes time to progress but once there, one has to just believe that he is on the right path.
“Sometimes you don’t see progress. In life, you want to see progress, you want it to happen so fast, but it doesn’t happen the whole time. It’s very challenging, but [you] need to believe in yourself.”
“Need to believe that whatever happened, happened for a reason. Can’t question it, because you won’t get an answer. You need to believe in your God as well. Have faith in yourself, have faith in your hard work.”
“Rishabh will come out of this. He’s a strong guy. He will come out of this. And he will be better. You just need to believe in yourself; he needs to spend time with himself and understand who are the people for him and who is against him,” he added.
