When television and cricket executives thrashed out a $360 million deal to beam Australian summers into India two years ago, Rishabh Pant’s batting pyrotechnics are said to have driven the dollars north.

Two years later, Pant and India are on their way back, and Disney Star’s $360 million, seven-year investment looks a bargain.

Rishabh Pant’s day-four six off New Zealand’s Tim Southee in Bengalaru was measured at 107 metres long.Credit: BCCI

Pant’s status as one of the great modern entertainers was sealed with a series-defining, unbeaten 89 at the Gabba in 2021, and it loomed large when Cricket Australia’s record-breaking deal in India was secured.

Since then, the 27-year-old’s storyline has become one of the more remarkable in world sport – with Pant pulled from his flipped SUV moments before it burst into flames in December 2022.

A dislocated knee that turned 90 degrees in the accident was the least of his worries. He was lucky to keep not just his leg, but his life, and told Star Sports earlier this year that “I felt my time in this world was over.”

Rarely, if ever, has the spotlight on Virat Kohli been dulled by teammates in an Indian side.

Police officers investigate the scene of Rishabh Pant’s 2022 car accident near Roorkee, in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand.Credit:........

© Brisbane Times