New Delhi: It was still dark when the Mercedes Rishabh Pant was driving hit a road divider near Roorkee and caught fire early on Friday morning.
The Team India star, who had dozed off while travelling to Delhi, miraculously avoided major injuries despite the high-speed crash as he managed to come out of the car through the window.
He suffered cuts on the forehead, tore a ligament in his right knee, had abrasion injuries on his back besides hurting his right wrist, ankle and toe.
The man who first spotted the accident-hit Mercedes was a Haryana Roadways bus driver.
Sushil Mann told NDTV that the SUV was coming at high speed from the opposite direction before hitting the divider.
“I parked my bus on the side and quickly ran towards the divider… I thought the car would flip under the bus as it was turning over and over before it stopped,” Mann said.
He saw the driver of the Mercedes, but didn’t recognise him.
“The driver (Pant) was half out of the window. He told me he’s a cricketer and asked me to call his mother, whose phone was switched off,” Mann revealed.
“I don’t watch cricket and I didn’t know it was Rishabh Pant is. But others in my bus recognised him,” Mann said.
After helping Pant come out of the car, Mann looked inside the car to check if anyone else was there.
An ambulance was arranged without delay and Mann accompanied Pant to the hospital.
“I took out his blue bag and Rs 7,000-8,000 from the car and gave it to him in the ambulance,” the bus driver said.
Pant has been shifted to Dehradun’s Max Hospital after being initially treated at Roorkee Civil Hospital.
