Gautam Gambhir Flies Back Home From England. Reports Reveals Concerning Factor
On Friday, when India was set to play an intra-squad match for the series, a report claimed that Gambhir was returning to India due to a family emergency.
- Gautam Gambhir has returned to India, as his mother is reportedly in ICU.
- He had traveled to England to oversee the India A team's unofficial Test series.
- Assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate will lead the team during the intra-squad match.
Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir is returning home from England as his mother is in ICU, according to news agency PTI. Gambhir travelled to England before the members of the senior team in order to monitor how the junior side (India A) fares against England Lions in the 2-match unofficial Test series. On Friday, when India was set to play an intra-squad match for the series, the news agency claimed that Gambhir was returning to India due to a family emergency. Another such family matter had earlier prompted Gambhir to fly back home from Australia during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The report said Gambhir had to fly back to attend to his mother, who suffered a heart attack and is currently in ICU in a New Delhi hospital.
"Gautam's mother had a heart attack on Wednesday. He and his family left for India on Thursday and they have reached Delhi," news agency PTI quoted sources as saying on Friday.
"Gautam's mother had a heart attack on Wednesday. He and his family left for India on Thursday and they have reached Delhi," the BCCI source informed.
In Gambhir's absence, assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate will assume the team's charge during the four-day intra-squad match between India and India A, beginning here from Friday.
He will have assistance from other coaching staff such as bowling coach Morne Morkel and batting coach Sitanshu Kotak.
Gambhir is expected to return to England in a week's time if everything goes well at his home.
"His mother is showing signs of recovery although she is still in the ICU. In all likelihood, he will be back in the UK before the start of the opening Test (starting June 20) if all goes well.”
India's Test squad for England series: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.
England squad for first Test vs India: Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Ben Stokes (capt), Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes.
With PTI Inputs
India Cricket Team
Gautam Gambhir