Coach Morkel Refuses To Blame Gill's Injury On Burnout, Wants To Determine Cause First

India received a worrying fitness update in their first Test against South Africa on Saturday as captain Shubman Gill retired hurt after facing only three balls on the second morning at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. The incident occurred when, after executing a sweep for four off Simon Harmer, Gill immediately removed his helmet and clutched his neck, prompting the team’s physiotherapist to rush on to the field. 

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) issued a statement after the session saying that “Shubman Gill has a neck spasm and is being monitored by the BCCI medical team. A decision on his participation today will be taken as per his progress.”

Gill didn't return to bat for India as he was eventually retired out. India needed him to bat on a day where as many as 15 wickets fell on a turning track. 

Notably, Gill has been playing cricket nonstop since the England Test tour and has hardly taken a long break to rejuvenate his body. He is leading India in two formats, and is the vice captain in T20Is as well, which makes him a permanent name on India’s team sheet across formats. 

Speaking at the press conference after the play on Day 2 ended, India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel refused to call out his injury as a result of forcing him into being a three-format player, and wished to understand how this injury occurred in the first place. 

“I think we first need to determine how he got the neck stiffness,” Morkel said, as quoted by Sportstar. 

“Maybe, [it was] just a bad night’s sleep. I don’t think we can put it down to the load [workload]. Shubman is a very fit guy. He looks after himself very well.

“So it was just unfortunate this morning that he woke up with a stiff neck, and that carried into the day, which was crucial for us. Another partnership with him was what we needed at the time,” added Morkel.

Morkel also remarked that the team wasn’t expecting the pitch to turn so much and break open the game so early. He hoped that the Indian batters could adapt quickly, and he presented the example of Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma, who has shown exceptional skill on this tricky surface so far in his unbeaten 29* off 78. 

“We didn’t expect that it [the pitch] would deteriorate so quickly,” Morkel said. 

“Looking at it the day before the game and in the morning of the game and the first couple of hours, it was a good wicket. So then it did deteriorate, which was unexpected. But I think that’s the beauty sometimes of playing in the subcontinent. You need to be able to adapt. You need to be able to react to conditions quite quickly. And that’s a sort of challenge we’re facing here at the moment. 

If you look at how the ball was behaving the entire day, there were a couple of balls that just spun past the bat quite sharply. But I think what Temba [Bavuma] showed today is valuable. If you can rotate the strike and have a solid game plan, you can get through tough periods.”

India are currently ahead in the game with South Africa being 93/7 and leading by just 63 runs.