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Shubman Gill's World Cup spot in doubt amid health issue as selectors to take call on his replacement
The latest development surrounding Shubman Gill's health comes as a huge blow to Team India
The development pertaining to Shubman Gill's health seems to grow more concerning for Team India by the hour. On Monday evening, the star opener was discharged from hospital in Chennai after recovering from a bout of dengue fever, which did come as a positive update for Rohit Sharma and his men, who are presently in New Delhi for the Afghanistan match on Wednesday, but Gill remains is doubt for the blockbuster World Cup match against Pakistan at his favourite venue, Ahmedabad's Narendra Modi Stadium. The latest development on the youngster however comes as a huge blow with reports claiming that Gill's World Cup participation might now be in doubt with selectors set to take a call on his replacement.
Gill arrived in 2023 World Cup as the most in-form batter in the Indian set-up, having scored 1230 runs, the most by any player in the format this year, at 72.35 with five centuries and as many fifties. But before he could get his campaign underway, one which world cricket still awaits after the promise he shown throughout the last nine months, Gill was grappled by high fever on reaching Chennai and later tested positive for dengue.
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The 24-year-old missed India's opening game against Australia and has been officially ruled out of the Afghanistan tie on Wednesday. While Gill and the rest of the Indian team remains hopeful that he would recover from the vial infection within this week, dengue tends to leave the body weak even days after returning a negative result for the infection. And that effectively rules him out of match against Pakistan. He might also miss the match against Bangladesh in Pune on October 19.
Amid the health issues, a PTI report said that the selectors might take a call on whether a replacement for Gill needs to be kept ready. Ruturaj Gaikwad, who was selected as an opener during the Australia series and also scored a half-century in Mohali, will be the first choice as a back-up opener, followed by left-handed batting sensation Yashasvi Jaiswal. Both were in fantastic touch in the recently-concluded Asian Games tournament where India won gold.
In the opening game, Ishan Kishan replaced Gill in the line-up, but got off to a poor start. The Afghanistan tie will offer a chance for the left-hander to prove his worth again before the proceedings head to Ahmedabad for the crucial Pakistan tie.
