Indian cricketer Rishabh Pant suffered serious injuries in a car accident on the Delhi-Dehradun highway in December 2022 when his car collided with a divider. The 26-year-old had many injuries but made an astonishing recovery. A few months later, he started playing cricket this year-first in the IPL-and then played a big role in helping India win the T20 World Cup in June. Ponting was quoted by Sky Sports saying: "We've all seen him play and heard him in the stump mic, he's an infectious character to have around the group. He loves his cricket, he's a winner, that's what he is. He doesn't just play to make a few runs and be out there for the fun of it. He must have 4 or 5 Test hundreds already and he's got about nine 90s as well. [MS] Dhoni played for 120 Tests (90) and made 3 or 4 hundreds (6), this is how good this guy (Pant) is. He's a serious cricketer." Now, with India scheduled to play Australia in a five-match Test series, Pant is likely to be an integral part of the middle-order like the last time India toured there. Pant was called a match-winner by former Australia skipper and his Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting. After the injury, Ricky Ponting kept in touch with Pant and was impressed with how he came back so quickly as soon as he defeated the challenges, both physical and mental aspects of the serious injury. He also added that: "It's a remarkable comeback. If you can see even his leg now and listen to the stories he tells about what he confronted during his car accident, just the mental scarring that comes with that but the physical side and the rehab he went through, I didn't think he would play last year's IPL (2024). "But 12 months before, he said 'Don't worry about me, I guarantee you I'll be right for the IPL'. We thought he'll be able to bat and we might have to use him as a sub player (Impact Player) but he kept every game, was one of our leading run-scorers, bats No. 3 in the T20 World Cup and is part of a World Cup winning team and is named in the Test squad now." Also Read | Who is the King of Cricket? Unveiling the Legends and Rising Stars