Former India player turned veteran commentator Aakash Chopra said that Shubman Gill will be a part of India’s playing XI for their World Cup 2023 clash against Pakistan if he is virtually fully fit. However, India will lock horns with Pakistan at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on Saturday. And, India’s star opener Gill missed the first two games of the tournament due to dengue but Rohit Sharma mentioned ahead of the Pakistan clash that Gill has a 99 percent chance of playing as well.
In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Chopra said, “Shubman Gill is available, so it seems like he will play because he has practiced and batted a lot. He is 99 percent ifit and available, and I suddenly got the feeling of a soap ad that says 99.9 percentfof the germs will be killed. No one has been able to kill that 0.1 percent. Here also it seems like that. Honestly, I have never seen a cricketer 100% fit while playing because everyone has slight niggles or problems. So all of us manage but this is different. This was dengue. It takes time to recover after dengue – weakness, platelet count, and all of that. So I just hope that the medical team has given him the tick to play.”
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However, Shubman Gill reached Ahmedabad a day before of the rest of the Indian team members. He practised for about an hour on Thursday morning and he also had another extended session on Friday evening as well. Meanwhile, Aakash Chopra also added that India have a good option in Ishan Kishan if Shubman Gill continues to be unavailable as well. Moreover, he further added that Ravichandran Ashwin might pip Mohammed Shami and Shardul Thakur for the No. 8 position as well.
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“We can manage without Gill as well because we have such a good team. Ishan Kishan is a gun player, there is no doubt about that. He might not be like Gill at the moment, will become in the future, but if Gill is available, he should play. If Gill is available, he will come in place of Ishan Kishan,” Aakash Chopra concluded. “There is a question about No. 8. Ideally when you play against an Asian team on Indian pitches, and the ball moves I say Mohammed Shami, and if not him, then Shardul Thakur, but you might see Ashwin playing here because it is being said that it is a turning pitch.”
Aakash Chopra’s probable Indian XI: Rohit Sharma, Shubman Gill/Ishan Kishan, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami/Shardul Thakur/Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj.
