Shubman Gill remains doubtful for the India vs Australia 2nd Test in Adelaide. The number three had sustained a finger injury on November 16 during match simulation practice sessions at the WACA. The blow had forced Gill to miss the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test.
Shumbam Gill, out to India vs Australia 2nd Test?
Initially, it was reported that he could be out for at least two weeks, but Morne Morkel, Team India’s assistant coach, hinted that Gill might feature in the first Test, depending on how his finger was on the morning of the match. In the end, Gill didn’t play.
One thought that he was on the cusp of recovery, but no, that’s not the case. Gill is expected to miss the India vs Prime Minister’s XI Day and Night match at the Manuka Oval. The two-day practice game scheduled for November 31-December 1 was to serve as practice for the India vs Australia 2nd pink ball Test, but he won’t be available for that and remains doubtful for Adelaide.
“Gill was advised a 10-14 day rest by the medical specialist after suffering that injury. He won’t play in the practice match on the weekend, and is doubtful at the moment for the second Test too. Let’s see how much his injury has healed, how his finger feels. Even after it has healed, he’ll need some quality practice before playing a Test match,” a source told the Times of India.
How Gill’s injury helps Team India
Weirdly enough, Gill’s injury could help the Indian management. After winning the 1st Test by a comfortable margin of 295 runs, Rohit Sharma and Gautam Gambhir might have felt making too many changes to a winning XI might not be the right thing. Rohit would have been forced to replace KL Rahul with himself; Devdutt Padikkal and Dhruv Jurel would have gone out with Rahul moving down the order and Gill returning to his number position.
But if Gill is ruled out from the Adelaide Test (December 6-10), Jurel won’t need to be dropped from the team, and Rahul can move to number three, Gill’s spot, which was occupied by Padikkal in the Perth Test.
India’s squad for Australia Tests
Rohit Sharma, Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Shubman Gill, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (wk), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar
Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal
