Shubman Gill Likely To Be Ruled Out For 2 Months Due To Stress Fracture In Shin

India opener Shubman Gill has been reportedly ruled out of cricket for two months. This comes after a BCCI source mentioned to PTI that the 21-year-old has suffered a shin stress fracture and the injury could put him out of cricketing action for an extended period of time.

The source also confirmed that it is all but certain that Gill might not feature in the upcoming five-Test series against England starting in Nottingham from August 4. The next four Test matches will be played on August 12 at Lord’s, August 25 at Leeds. September 2^nd at The Oval and September 10 at Manchester.

It is understood that the shin injury got aggravated during the recently-concluded World Test Championship final against New Zealand in Southampton which India lost by 8 wickets.

It Will Be A Race Against Time To Get Shubman Gill Fit For The Final Two Test Matches In September: BCCI Source To PTI

Shubman Gill has had a good start to his Test career, hitting two half-centuries against Australia in Australia, with his 91 helping India register a historic Test win at Brisbane, which led to India winning their second consecutive Test series win down under.

Unfortunately, he has since made just one half-century more against England at home and made 36 runs in the World Test Championship (WTC) final. The England Test series would have been a stern test for the young Punjab batsman.

“Shubman has sustained a shin stress fracture, which will keep him out of action for minimum of two months, which effectively rules him out of the first three Tests against England in August. It will be a race against time to get him fit for the final two Test matches in September after completing rehabilitation,” the source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

A former India pacer further explained how stress fractures heal and on replacements that the Indian team might employ in his absence.

“Stress fractures in the shin are not very threatening but time-consuming in terms of rest and rehabilitation. If it would have been a shin fracture, then it could have taken more than three months but a shin stress fracture injury normally takes anything between 8 to 10 weeks to heal. If Gill’s replacement, whether it’s Mayank (Agarwal) or (KL) Rahul, does well, he might have to sit out and I believe the team management also won’t show a lot of desperation in getting him fit for say, the fifth Test,” a former India pacer told PTI.

It is understood that physio Nitin Patel and strength and conditioning coach Soham Desai will be monitoring Gill’s progress in the UK. Indian squad also has Bengal’s Abhimanyu Easwaran is one of the openers on stand-by.

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