Indian captain Shubman Gill, who is suffering from neck cramps, has been released from the Indian team ahead of the Guwahati Test and vice-captain Rishabh Pant has been appointed as the acting captain of the Indian team in his place.
India lost inside the first three days of the opening Test match against South Africa at the Eden Gardens. A lot of blame was thrown to the surface after the defeat; However, Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir revealed that this is what he had asked for.
With Eden offering unorthodoxy, Guwahati is expected to create a patch of red clay, which will likely provide more pace and bounce. Therefore, the spinner is likely to be the most important player for both the teams in the clash.
Shubman Gill has been officially released from the team before the second test.
Indian Test captain Shubman Gill has been ruled out of the final Test in Guwahati due to injury and has been officially dropped from the team. He is likely to return to Mumbai after missing the training session on November 20.
The Indian batsman suffered severe neck cramps due to which he was admitted to a hospital in Kolkata and India lost with one batsman less. Although he tried to play the game as Shubman Gill traveled with India to their next venue, the physio ruled him out due to stress.
It is learned that Shubman Gill will fly back to Mumbai and take rest for a few days before meeting Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala for expert opinion. As of now, no reports have clarified whether he will be a part of the South Africa white-ball tour or will go to the BCCI Center of Excellence for further assessment and rehabilitation.
Rishabh Pant will lead, Nitish Kumar Reddy will replace a spinner Guwahati
In the absence of Shubman Gill, veteran left-handed batsman Rishabh Pant, who is the team’s vice-captain, will lead the team as the stand-in captain for the game. The second Test will start from November 22 in Guwahati.
Apart from this, the Indian management can once again surprise everyone with its bold decision in the playing eleven. All-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy has been called up in place of Shubman Gill and Sai Sudarshan, both of whom are set to revamp India’s playing XI, reports TimesofIndia.com.
Axar Patel is likely to be dropped again due to the glut of left-handed batsmen in the Indian XI, and will mark the return of Sai Sudarshan, the batsman seen in almost every optional and mandatory training session since the last Test in Kolkata.
Sitanshu Kotak contradicts Gautam Gambhir’s opinion regarding Eden Gardens pitch.
Indian batting coach Sitanshu Kotak spoke at length about the pitch in the opening Test and unlike Gautam Gambhir, he revealed that the pitch was not what he expected.
Kotak said, “See, in the last match wicket, Gautam said that he took all the blame on himself. He said that he took the blame because he felt that he should not put the blame on the curator.”
“Now, what happened in the last match, after a day it felt like it was falling apart. There was a little mud [that came up after the ball pitched]You all can see that, that was unexpected,”
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