“Pehla thought mereko aaya ki ye bhai gaya” - Axar Patel on Rishabh Pant’s accident

Veteran India spinner Axar Patel has expressed that he feared the worst the first time he heard about Rishabh Pant’s dangerous car accident. Last year on December 30, 2022, everyone woke up to the shocking news of his accident as Pant sustained multiple injuries in a horrific car accident as the car he was driving crashed into a divider on the Delhi-Dehradun highway as well.

In a video posted on Delhi Capitals’ X handle, Axar Patel recalled his first thoughts on hearing about Pant’s accident. He said: “Subah 7 ya 8 baje mere phone pe ring baji. Pratima di (Ishant Sharma’s wife) ka phone aya. Pratima di ne mujhe pucha ki ‘teri Rishabh se kab baat hui thi last?’ Mene bola ‘nahi, kal karne wala tha lekin kal nahi ki mene’. ‘Are uski mummy ka number ho toh mereko send kar, uska accident ho gaya hai’. Matlab pehla thought mereko aaya ki ye bhai gaya.(Early morning, I got a call from Pratima di [Ishant Sharma’s wife]. She asked me when I last spoke to Pant. I told her that I was about to talk to him yesterday, but I did not. She asked for Pant’s mother’s contact number as he had met with an accident. At that point, I feared the worst).”

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However, due to the multiple injuries Rishabh Pant suffered in the car accident, he had to undergo surgery as well. In a recent interview, he said that he was lucky to survive the intense car crash. In the same video, Axar Patel also revealed that he received calls from Shardul Thakur and even the BCCI as everyone felt that he was the last person to be in touch with Rishabh Pant. And, Axar then called Pant’s manager for an update and he got to know that Pant was safe.

“BCCI, Shardul everyone started calling me. Everyone felt that I was the last one to speak to him. I called him (Pant’s manager) and he said that everything is fine. ‘How much damage his body has suffered due to injuries, we don’t know, but he’s safe’. After that, I ended the call and took a deep breath. Now, I was assured that he would fight. I know he is a fighter,” Axar Patel concluded.

However, Rishabh Pant has been constantly sharing updates on his social media handles from his rehab at the National Cricket Academy (NCA). According to reports, he is expected to return before the T20 World Cup in the UAE and the West Indies next year as well.