Indian captain Shubman Gill suffered severe neck spasms, ruling him out of the entire first Test at Eden Gardens and costing the home team the match as a batsman. The South African cricketer has now been found walking to the Kolkata hospital where he was admitted for a health checkup.
Shubman Gill took over as red-ball captain ahead of the England tour and remains one of the very few cricketers to have played for India across all formats.
Gill played the tour of England, returned to play the Asia Cup and then played the home series against the West Indies. After the series, he flew to Australia with the Indian team and played all 8 matches of the series. During the first Test against South Africa, he suffered neck cramps and immediately left the field.
However, it was quoted by Morne Morkel that the Indian captain has no problem with the workload but claimed that the neck spasm was due to a sleeping posture problem. However, the injury does not seem to be so light for the Indian captain.
South African players reach Woodlands for health checkup
Due to his neck injury, Shubman Gill was admitted to the hospital in Kolkata and was admitted under Dr. Saptarshi Basu at Woodlands Hospital. However, he was released after the game ended on Sunday afternoon.
After the Indian captain, some South African cricketers, Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj and Marco Jansen, went to Woodlands Hospital for routine check-up before leaving Kolkata and going to Guwahati for the second Test.
South Africa’s Simon Harmer, Keshav Maharaj and Marco Johnson went to Woodlands Hospital in Kolkata last night for a health checkup.
– Subhayan Chakraborty (@CricSubhayan) 18 November 2025
Shubman Gill’s injury concerns may rule him out of Guwahati Test
Shubman Gill has been discharged from the hospital, but the BCCI and the physio are yet to report his recovery. BCCI has called Nitish Kumar Reddy in place of captain for the second test.
Gill could not even take the field in the optional session for Team India in Kolkata on Tuesday as he had severe neck pain and was forced to wear a neck brace. “He has severe pain in his neck and we are not allowed to give further details about the injury. He will have to continue wearing a neck collar,” the source told news agency PTI. “He has been advised rest for three to four days and not to fly.
“In this situation, he is not advised to travel to Guwahati. But we are monitoring his progress on a daily basis and the picture will be clear by Tuesday,” sources said.
Why did India call Nitish Kumar Reddy despite the presence of extra batsmen in the team?
Despite having players like Sai Sudarshan and Devdutt Padikkal as additional batsmen in the team, India called on Nitish Kumar Reddy as a possible replacement. The decision seemed strange; However, one thing can be cited: India do not want to bring another left-hander into the playing eleven.
Both the batsmen in the team are left-handed and India’s batting unit already has many left-handed batsmen except KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Dhruv Jurel. Reddy, who is a right-handed batsman, may be brought down the order, and Jurel may be sent at number one instead. 4, replacing Shubman Gill.
Also read: Shubman Gill angry over Gautam Gambhir’s pitch tampering! cracks begin to appear
