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Friday deadline for call on India captain Gill
India captain Shubman Gill is recovering from a neck spasm; a fitness test on Friday will determine his availability for the second Test.
Guwahati: India captain Shubman Gill is recovering from a neck spasm sustained during the first Test in Kolkata but the final decision on whether he can play the second Test will be taken after a fitness test on Friday. Batting coach Sitanshu Kotak indicated that Gill won’t be risked if there is the slightest chance of a recurrence of injury.
“See, he is definitely recovering really well, because I also met him yesterday,” said Kotak ahead of a practice session that Gill didn’t attend. “Now, the decision will be taken tomorrow evening, because the physios and doctors have to decide whether, even if he is fully recovered, there’s a chance of the spasm recurring during the match. That is very important.
“If there is a doubt, then I am sure he will rest for one more game because it won’t help the team otherwise. A player like Shubman, and he’s the captain so any team would miss him.”
If Gill misses out, someone has to be drafted at No. 4. Dhruv Jurel did the job in the second innings of the Kolkata Test. B Sai Sudharsan has been seen sweating out at the nets, as was allrounder Nitish Kumar Reddy who has a Test hundred to his name. “If he is missing out because of injury, we have batters and plenty of good players,” said Kotak.
Appointed captain earlier this year before the tour of England, Gill has been a pillar of India’s batting against spin and pace, which explains why the BCCI team is willing to wait on him as long as possible. As of now though, chances of Gill featuring in the second Test are slim. “In the last game, nobody discussed much about what our chances would have been had Shubman batted in both innings,” said Kotak.
“The second innings may not have even mattered. If in the first innings he had batted and we had one partnership, with a 100-run lead, we would have been fine. That’s not an excuse, but a reality that he couldn’t bat in two innings.”
