India's Shubman Gill celebrates scoring a century during the Asia Cup cricket match between Bangladesh and India in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Friday, Sept.15, 2023. (AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena) The Indian team is likely to take the field without star batsman Shubman Gill for their first World Cup game against Australia in Chennai on Sunday.
It is learnt that the in-form opener, who missed the team’s net session at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on Thursday, is undergoing treatment after testing positive for dengue. Those in the know said that the Indian team management is monitoring Gill’s progress and a call on his availability will be taken after another round of tests on Friday.
In case Gill fails to recover for the game against perennial challengers Australia, India will be weighing their options on whether Ishan Kishan or KL Rahul should walk out with captain Rohit Sharma for the start of the innings.
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The absence of India’s brightest young batting talent in the playing XI will be a setback for the team as he has been in sublime touch this year.
Gill scored a magnificent double ton against New Zealand earlier this year. Except for a mini-slump during the West Indies tour, he showed incredible consistency. He was the leading run-scorer in the Indian Premier League with 890 runs and topped the batting charts in the recent Asia Cup with 302 runs. In the last few innings, he has scores of 104, 74, 27*, 121, 19, 58 and 67*.
In the lead-up to the World Cup, the Indian team has had an air of uncertainty with several of its top stars making their comebacks after injuries. Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer had returned to the team after a long lay-off. Even during the Asia Cup, spinner Axar Patel had injured himself and was replaced in the World Cup squad by Ravichandran Ashwin.
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