Shubman Gill has a stress related injury in one of his lower legs and could be in danger of missing the entire five-Test series against England, beginning in August. ESPNcricinfo has learned that as per the initial prognosis, the Indian medical staff suspects Gill is likely to take a minimum of eight weeks to get back to fitness.
Details of the injury, including its exact nature, remain unclear still. Throughout the World Test Championship final, Gill, who opened and even took a spectacular diving catch in New Zealand’s first innings, showed no discomfort. Although it could not be confirmed, it is believed that Gill is likely to have picked up the injury during a recent fitness training session.
This is Gill’s first injury since he made his Test debut on the tour of Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in 2020-21, where he had impressed the team management with a bold attitude while opening the batting. At present, Gill is staying with the rest of the Indian squad in London. He is believed to have expressed a desire to play in the latter half of the England tour, but the team management is expected to take a final call shortly.
The BCCI has not sent any update on Gill’s fitness. Currently, the Indian squad is on a three-week break which started from June 24. The contingent will reassemble in Durham from July 15 and train, including playing two warm-up matches. It is understood that the BCCI recently put in a fresh request with the ECB to organise a practice match against one of the counties so that the Indians would get some quality match training before the Test series which begins from August 4 at Trent Bridge.
The second Test will be played at Lord’s (August 12-16), the third at Headingley (August 25-29), the fourth at The Oval (September 2-6) and the fifth at Old Trafford (September 10-14). Immediately after the final Test, the Indians will fly out of Manchester directly to the UAE to participate in the remainder of IPL 2021.
It is believed that Gill will be fully fit in time for the IPL, where he plays for Kolkata Knight Riders.
Nagraj Gollapudi is news editor at ESPNcricinfo
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