Shubman Gill To Play 2nd Test Against South Africa? India Coach Provides Major Update

Indian cricket team batting coach Sitanshu Kotak provided a major fitness update on skipper Shubman Gill ahead of the second Test match against South Africa in Guwahati starting Saturday. Gill, who suffered a neck injury during the first Test in Kolkata, did not train on Thursday and Kotak revealed that the youngster will undergo a fitness test on Friday. While sources told NDTV that Gill will not take part in the match, Kotak said that the physios and doctors will take the final call before adding that it is very important that Gill recovers properly and there are no chances of the neck spasm occurring again.

"See, he is definitely recovering really well, because I also met him yesterday," Kotak said. "Now, the decision will be taken tomorrow evening, because the physios and doctors have to decide whether, even if he is fully recovered, there's a chance of the spasm recurring during the match. That is very important. If there is a doubt, then I am sure he will rest for one more game because it won't help the team otherwise. A player like Shubman, and he's the captain so any team would miss him."

While acknowledging the impact of Gill's absence, Kotak expressed confidence in the bench strength.

"But if he is missing out because of injury, we have batters and plenty of good players. They are professionals; they should come and perform for the team," Kotak said.

"We all wish he plays, but if he doesn't, we will definitely have a good replacement and maybe the guy coming in will score a hundred." In the first Test in Kolkata, Dhruv Jurel batted at No. 4 in the second innings, and Kotak did not rule out that option again, though he stressed that combinations would only be discussed after Gill's fitness test.

"Jurel batted at No. 4, so he is one option. But until we know about Shubman, there is no point discussing who will play," he said.

"Once we know, and once we see the wicket tomorrow, we will think about the best combination." Kotak summed up the significance of Gill's absence in the first Test with pointed clarity.

"In the last game, nobody discussed much about what our chances would have been had Shubman batted in both innings," he said.

"The second innings may not have even mattered. If in the first innings he had batted and we had one partnership, with a 100-run lead, we would have been fine. That's not an excuse, but a reality that he couldn't bat in two innings.

(With PTI inputs)

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