Two years after Rishabh Pant feared his cricket career was over in a serious car crash, the wicketkeeper has become the most expensive player in Indian Premier League history. The 27-year-old left-hander recovered from his injuries to make a stunning return to elite cricket and was part of the India team that won the T20 World Cup in June.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
On Sunday Lucknow Super Giants paid 270 million rupees -- $3.2 million -- at auction for his services in the upcoming season of the lucrative IPL.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
That broke the 2023 record of 247.5 million rupees Kolkata shelled out for Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Lucknow coach Justin Langer called Pant a "character that can lift a team", the Times of India reported.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Lucknow's mentor, veteran Indian bowler Zaheer Khan, said he had spotted Pant's "spark" when he was a 19-year-old player in Delhi.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
"(The) way he has evolved as a cricketer is remarkable," he told the newspaper.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
In December 2022, Pant suffered multiple injuries after his Mercedes crashed near New Delhi.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
His vehicle flipped and caught fire, and Pant suffered a damaged ligament in his right knee and a hurt wrist and ankle.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
But Pant battled back through an intensive rehabilitation programme, and led Delhi Capitals in the IPL this year with his no-fear attacking batting.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Pant himself called his return "nothing short of a miracle".<\/p>\r\n\r\n
- 'Lots of struggles' -<\/strong><\/p>\r\n\r\n Pant grew up in the city of Roorkee in the northern state of Uttarakhand, sharing a one-room home with his sister and parents.<\/p>\r\n\r\n His cricket-mad businessman father told him to pursue his dream of playing for his country.<\/p>\r\n\r\n "He told me he will support me -– go and have fun playing," he recalled in an interview with the Indian Express newspaper.<\/p>\r\n\r\n "What more could I have asked for as a boy?"<\/p>\r\n\r\n As a teenager Pant would spend weekends travelling with his mother, a teacher, on a night bus to the capital New Delhi -- six hours each way -- for cricket coaching.<\/p>\r\n\r\n "There were lots of such struggles in those days," he told the Indian Express, describing how he would catch some sleep at a Sikh temple before playing.<\/p>\r\n\r\n Pant is a mainstay of the India team, scoring his first Test century in his third match against England in 2018.<\/p>\r\n\r\n In September, Pant announced his return to Tests in style with an attacking century against Bangladesh in Chennai, smashing bowlers to every part of the ground and receiving a standing ovation.<\/p>\r\n\r\n "Rishabh's history in the IPL and in the sport of cricket is unparallelled in terms of his skill," Lucknow owner Shashwat Goenka said of the record buy.<\/p>\r\n\r\n On Monday, Lucknow posted a picture of Pant leaping to catch a ball during the first Test against Australia in Perth -- joking in its comment "when did Spider-Man start to fly?".<\/p>\r\n\r\n For selectors Pant epitomises the determination to succeed against the odds.<\/p>\r\n\r\n "This game will test your limits, knock you down, lift you up, and throw you back again," he posted on social media earlier this year.<\/p>\r\n\r\n