COMING BACK. TOLIFEFT. PANT

With Rishabh set to represent India for the first time since his accident in the T20 WC, Swaroop Swaminathan takes a deep dive in understanding his surgery, the long rehab, comeback and more...

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T HE ortho department at the Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, Mumbai, is where bones and joints meet the surgeon's knife on an hourly basis. On an average Monday evening in May, about 30 patients are waiting to meet their doctors.

Some are repeat patients, hoping the big white plaster running from just above the knee to the ankle can be removed.

Others, walking gingerly, hoping to avoid surgery. A few, like Mayank Yadav, the tearaway pace sensation who caused quite the stir in the IPL, are here to learn about their prognosis.

This department, and the doctors who have called this department home for years, have been responsible for treating some of India's biggest superstars. A story goes that MS Dhoni, hours after winning the Indian Premier League (IPL) title in 2023, landed here to fix his knee.

Vinesh Phogat, whose knee looked like a war zone after that injury at the Rio Games, took her first steps back after surgery thanks to the doctors in this department. Most of the victorious members of the 2022 Thomas Cup team have been here to fix a stray bone, mend a troublesome knee or repair a banjaxed ankle.

Away from sport, actor R Madhavan has been here. A world-famous musician has also moved through this hall. Suffice it to say the doctors here have seen all kinds. Ugly injuries. Shattered bones. Ligament tears. Broken ankles.

They have seen it all. In the first week of January 2023, Dinshaw Pardiwala, head of sports medicine at the hospital, saw Rishabh Pant in the flesh for the first time since the career-threatening accident just before New Year's Day.

Pardiwala, the surgeon responsible for fixing Pant's knee, hadn't seen anything as crazy as that injury in a long time. The surgeon who had treated everybody from PV Sindhu to Neeraj Chopra to Sachin Tendulkar had a more fundamental challenge on his hands.