Indian captain Shubman Gill has been discharged from the hospital in Kolkata but is unlikely to be available for the upcoming match in Guwahati. He is likely to be ruled out of the second Test and Devdutt Padikkal is likely to replace him.
India won the first match against South Africa at Eden Gardens, as the pitch was not in favor of the Indian batsmen. The Proteas won the match, and India were demoted in the ICC WTC points table.
India suffered the biggest blow not only by losing the match but also by having its captain ruled out due to a serious injury. The captain was suffering from neck spasms and was admitted to a hospital in Kolkata late in the night after the end of the second day’s play.
Former BCCI President met Shubhman Gill
Shubman Gill entered the field after Indian number one. 3 Washington Sundar’s long run in the first innings for India ended on the second day with Simon Harmer’s first wicket of the match. After this came the Indian captain, who sent a loose ball from Harmer across the boundary on his third ball.
However, after hitting the boundary, Gill immediately held his neck and suffered cramps. The physio reached the field to help him and he was taken off the field. Despite the poor batting of the Indian team, the captain never returned to the field.
He was hospitalized at Woodlands Hospital in Kolkata when India played with only 10 batsmen and were bowled out for 93 in the fourth innings of the game, thus losing the game by a margin of 30 runs.
According to PTI report, former BCCI president Sourav Ganguly, who is now the president The Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) met Shubman at the Woodlands Multispeciality soon after India’s humiliating defeat.
Shubman Gill is likely to be evaluated by the BCCI physio before India reach any decision
The PTI report further states that the team management is yet to take a final decision on Shubman Gill’s availability for the second Test in Guwahati. The Guwahati Test will be very important from India’s point of view, as they aim to regain their top 3 position in the WTC table and avoid another clean sweep in the home series.
The Test is scheduled to be played on November 22 and is to be concluded by the BCCI physio, as per Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir. He further clarified that a decision can be taken only after physio evaluation.
Not Sai Sudarshan, but Devdutt Padikkal can replace Shubman Gill
Sai Sudarshan was given many chances at number 1 by the Indian team management. 3, yet it could not prove fruitful. Recently, during the India A series, Sudarshan failed to score a single half-century or look promising with the bat. Therefore, he was dropped from India’s playing eleven and was replaced by Washington Sundar at number 3.
Devdutt Padikkal is now the player who is being considered for inclusion as a replacement for Shubman Gill in place of Sai Sudarshan. Padikkal played at number 1 for India. No. 4 in the India A vs South Africa A series, although the Karnataka batsman has also not performed well for India since his last first-class century against Australia A.
Also read: Good news! Shubman Gill discharged from hospital; Sourav Ganguly meets Indian captain after neck injury
