India’s Test series against England is five weeks away, but they have already suffered a setback. There are some doubts about the availability of one of the designated opening batters, who has reportedly injured his leg after the WTC final and is set to miss the first Test, with a possibility of missing the entire series.
Recent reports coming from England suggest that Shubman Gill is carrying a shin stress injury for some time, which will take a few weeks to recover from. Further details about which leg is injured and its recovery time have not been disclosed yet.
Gill will continue to remain in England with the touring party before Indian management decides by assessing the injury’s gravity. The physio Nitin Patel along with the conditioning coach, Sohum Desai, will be monitoring his progress. Indian team remains hopeful that the 21-year-old batter will play a part in the series at some point.
“There is a chance that Shubman could be ruled out of the whole Test tour even though it’s still a month away. The injury is serious is what we have come to know,”
a senior BCCI official told PTI on anonymity.
Gill made his international debut on the tour down under and played a crucial role in India’s historic series triumph. His knock of 91 in the fourth innings chase at Gabba was of the highest class, earning him plaudits from all corners of world cricket. He has featured in eight Test matches so far, scoring 414 runs while averaging 31.84. Gill, who has been India’s preferred opener alongside Rohit Sharma, played the WTC Final. Although he returned with low scores of 28 & 8 in the final, he showed some promising signs in the first innings.
If Gill fails to gain full fitness, India has suitable alternatives in the Karnataka duo Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul. They also have the uncapped player Abhimanyu Eswaran in the reserves. Eswaran has a huge experience in FC cricket, scoring 4401 in 64 matches at an average of 43.57 with 13 hundreds and 18 fifties.
Agarwal will be the next in line in the pecking order. He was part of India’s tour of Australia and played three matches in the Test series. After the first two tests, he was dropped due to poor returns and played the Gabba Test as a middle order batter. He has played 14 Tests for India, scoring 1052 runs averaging 45.73 with the highest score of 243. His Karnataka teammate, KL Rahul, who has 2006 runs in 36 Tests at an average of 34.58, last featured in a Test in 2019 against the West Indies.
Indian players are currently on a three-week break before they rejoin the bubble in Durham on July 15, where they will attend a pre-series camp and play a couple of intra-squad matches.
The five-match series between England and India will kick start with the first Test from August 4 at Trent Bridge, Nottingham, before they travel to London for Lord’s Test. The one and a half month series will conclude with the fifth Test from September 10 to 14 at the Old Trafford, Manchester. Indian players will then head straight to the UAE for the remainder of the Indian Premier League 2021.
