Indian cricketer Rishabh Pant was injured in a road accident in the early hours of Friday when the car he was driving hit the road divider at Narsen near Roorkee. Pant was rescued  out of the car just in time before the vehicle caught fire after the crash.

The BCCI stated in a statement that the India wicket-keeper met with a car accident early on Friday morning near Roorkee and was admitted to Saksham Hospital Multispecialty and Trauma Centre where he was treated for impact injuries.

He sustained two cuts on his forehead, a ligament tear in his right knee and also hurt his right wrist, ankle, toe apart from abrasion injuries on his back. His condition remains stable and he has been shifted to Max hospital in Dehradun, where he will undergo MRI scans to ascertain the extent of his injuries and formulate his further course of treatment.

“When he was brought to our hospital, he was fully conscious and I spoke to him. He wanted to surprise his mother and was going back home," Dr Nagar of Saksham hospital told PTI. Pant had two lacerations (blunt trauma) on his head but there were no stitches, Dr Nagar said.

"Reports of X-rays conducted at our hospital suggest that there are no bone injuries. Yes, there is a ligament tear on his right knee. How serious it is can only be detected after further investigation and a detailed MRI done."

Ligament injuries have various grades and it can take two to six months to regain complete fitness. According to Dr Nagar, the big bruises on his back, pictures of which went viral on social media, are not burn injuries.

"The injuries happened because he jumped out of car by breaking the window as soon as it caught fire. As he landed on the side of the road on his rear, the skin peeled off. But those are not burn injuries and not very serious," he said. The BCCI is in constant touch with Pant’s family while the medical team is in close contact with the doctors currently treating him. The board will see to it that he receives the best possible medical care and gets all the support he needs to come out of this traumatic phase, the BCCI stated.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami also talked to Pant’s mother and assured that the best medical treatment will be provided to him. Pant had left for his home in Roorkee from Delhi late on Thursday night to surprise his family. He had planned to spend the New Year with his family.

The Haridwar senior superintendent of police Ajai Singh said that the mishap occurred at about 5:22 AM and prima facie it appears as if the mishap was caused by Pant momentarily dozing off while driving.

The driver and conductor of a Haryana roadways bus came out to aid the cricketer and informed the police about the mishap. The bus driver, Sushil Kumar, said he saw the car slamming into the divider, stopped and ran over to help. "When we reached the car, sparks were rising but it had not yet caught fire. We pulled out the man from the car, laid him down and ran back to the car to see if there were others inside. I saw no one. When we ran back to the man... We saw his limbs moving," the bus driver told television channels. "When we went closer, he said I am a cricketer, I am Pant. I had not heard of him but the conductor told me he was a big cricketer," Kumar said.

The police reached the accident site in about 10 minutes. The cricketer was first taken to a local hospital and then to the Max hospital in Dehradun. The car he was driving hit the road divider and then went on for about 200 metres before catching fire at Narsan in Haridwar district.  Dr Nagar, who initially treated Pant, said he was brought to the hospital at around 6 am and administered primary treatment before being referred to a higher centre. The doctor said Pant had not sustained grievous injuries but had multiple injuries on his forehead, back and ankles.

The doctors at Max hospital in Dehradun stated that his condition was being assessed by a panel of doctors and though it appears as if the injuries are not serious, the exact impact of the injuries will be known after various scans and tests conducted on Friday.