Shubman Gill removed from squad as BCCI announces new India Test captain
Table of Contents
Indian skipper Shubman Gill, struggling with a neck spasm, has been released ahead of the Guwahati Test from the Indian squad, and instead, the vice-captain, Rishabh Pant, has been named as the stand-in skipper of the Indian team.
India lost the opening Test against South Africa at the Eden Gardens within the first three days of play. After the loss, a lot of blame was put upon the surface; however, Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir revealed that was what they had asked for.
With Eden offering unconventionality, Guwahati is expected to roll out a redder soil patch, which will likely offer greater pace and bounce. Hence, the spinners are likely to be the most important players for both teams in contention.
Shubman Gill has officially been released from the Squad ahead of the Second Test
Indian Test captain, Shubman Gill, has been ruled out of the final Test in Guwahati due to an injury and has been officially released from the squad. He is likely to fly back to Mumbai after he didn't turn up for the training session on November 20th.
The Indian batter suffered from a bad spasm in his neck, which led to his hospitalization in Kolkata, and India went down with one less batter. Though he tried to play the game, as Shubman Gill travelled alongside India to their next venue, he might still have been denied the stress by the physios.
It has been learned that Shubman Gill will be flying back to Mumbai and resting for a few days before meeting Dr. Dinshaw Pardiwala for an expert opinion. As of now, no reports have cleared whether he would be part of the South Africa white-ball tour or move to the BCCI Centre of Excellence for further evaluation and rehab.
Rishabh Pant to lead, Nitish Kumar Reddy to replace a spinner in Guwahati
In Shubman Gill's absence, Rishabh Pant, the left-handed veteran batter who is the vice-captain of the side, will lead the side as the stand-in skipper for the game. The second Test begins in Guwahati on the 22nd of November.
Moreover, the Indian management is once again likely to shock all with their bold calls on the playing XI. As per reports from the TimesofIndia.com, Nitish Kumar Reddy, the all-rounder called in place of Shubman Gill and Sai Sudharsan, are both set to revamp India's XI.
Axar Patel is most likely to be benched again due to the overflow of left-handed batters in the Indian XI, and Sai Sudharsan's return would be marked due to the batter seen in almost every optional and compulsory training session since the last Test at Kolkata.
Sitanshu Kotak turns against Gautam Gambhir's opinion about the Eden Gardens' pitch
The 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 something they had expected.
"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 curators," Kotak said.
"Now, what happened in the last match, after a day, it felt like it was crumbling. There was a little bit of soil [that came up after the ball pitched]. All of you can see that. That was not expected."
Tagged:
India National Cricket Team South Africa National Cricket Team India vs South Africa South Africa vs India Shubman Gill Rishabh Pant Gautam Gambhir Sitanshu Kotak
