Indian skipper Shubman Gill, who suffered a neck injury during the 1st Test between India and South Africa in Kolkata, will travel to Guwahati for the 2nd game. “He was kept under observation and discharged the next day. Shubman has been responding well to the medical treatment provided and will travel to Guwahati,” read the BCCI press release.
“He will continue to be monitored by the BCCI medical team and a decision on his participation in the 2nd Test will be taken accordingly,” the statement read. Having faced three deliveries, Gill walked off the field on Day 2 of the Test match and was later taken to a local hospital after the end of the day’s play. Following further scans, it was decided that he would spend the night at the hospital as a precautionary measure.
Gill’s workload
The 26-year-old has been playing and juggling the three formats on a consistent basis. Gill played the England series from June to August. He was then announced as deputy for T20I skipper Suryakumar Yadav for the Asia Cup in UAE which went on from September 9-28. There was little rest for the weary skipper however, with Gill then coming back to India to lead in the 2-match West Indies series, which went on from October 2-October 14.
After the Windies series, Gill had to fly in for a white-ball tour to Australia, consisting of 3 ODIs and 5 T20Is, which started on October 19 and ended on November 8. That makes it 6 months on the road where Gill has played 7 Tests, 12 T20Is and 3 50-over matches. With the South Africa series starting on November 14 and its associated preparations, that doesn’t afford Gill much of a turnaround time.
That’s nearly 48 days of active match time cricket days, in the last five months after the IPL.
“I think in 4-5 days’ of turnaround, coming from another country and playing different formats is not easy. It’s mentally more challenging. There’s a good amount of time difference between India and Australia. So, the body takes a bit of time to get used to it. Then after coming here, there’s a different challenge of playing Test cricket in India as compared to playing white-ball cricket in Australia. Definitely, it’s a bit challenging mentally and physically. But as a professional cricketer, it’s about how you tackle these things,” Gill said in the pre-match press conference from the Eden Gardens ahead of the match.
