Former India chairman of selectors MSK Prasad said that he believes that opener Shubman Gill will be part of Team India’s playing XI for the upcoming match against Pakistan. Prasad also added that Gill has recovered from his illness and the talks over the seriousness of his sickness are just “rumors” only as well.
However, Shubman Gill missed India’s first two World Cup matches against Australia and Afghanistan. He was even hospitalized in Chennai. Having arrived in Ahmedabad, where India will play against Pakistan on Saturday, he was seen hitting the nets on Thursday. As per reports, he also batted for an hour in the nets and also did some fielding drills.
In an interaction with hindustantimes.com, Prasad added that Gill has recovered from his illness and he will play the World Cup match against Pakistan as well.
“I think we can put an end to all kinds of speculations. Shubman Gill will definitely play this game (vs Pakistan). He’s too good a player to miss out. He had just a fever. He has recovered. It was not threatening at all that we would even think about replacements. It’s all rumors that are coming out (about the seriousness of the illness) in whatever form that you are hearing,” he said.
- Shubman Gill
He also added that the youngster did not travel to Delhi for the match against Afghanistan as a precautionary measure as well.
“What we heard was that as a matter of precaution, he couldn’t play the second game otherwise he was fine. He stayed back for one more day in Chennai as a precaution. He recovered well, and was discharged,” Prasad concluded.
In Gill’s absence, Ishan Kishan played as an opener along with Rohit Sharma in India’s first two World Cup matches. While he was dismissed for a golden duck in the game against Australia in Chennai, he scored a run-a-ball 47 and added 156 for the opening wicket with Rohit Sharma (131 off 84 balls) against Afghanistan as well.
