NEWS
Follow UsIndian Test opener Shubman Gill has sustained a serious shin injury which could keep him out of action for at least two months. It is all but certain that Gill won't feature in the upcoming five-match Test series against England, starting in Nottingham from August 4.
"Shubman has sustained a shin stress fracture, which will keep him out of action for minimum two months, which effectively rules him out of the first three Tests against England in August," the source, on conditions of anonymity, told PTI.
"It will be a race against time to get him fit for the final two Test matches in September after completing rehabilitation."
It is understood that the shin injury got aggravated during the recently-concluded World Test Championship final against New Zealand in Southampton which india lost by 8 wickets.
"Stress fractures in shin are not very threatening but time consuming in terms of rest and rehabilitation. If it would have been shin fracture, then it could have taken more than three months but shin stress fracture injury normally takes anything between 8 to 10 weeks to heal."
The injury to Gill might open the doors for Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul to open the innings alongside Rohit Sharma. However, Abhimanyu Easwaran, who was in the standby list, could be drafted to the main squad.
It is understood that physio Nitin Patel and strength and conditioning coach Soham Desai will be monitoring Gill's progress in the UK. However, it is not clear if after being formally ruled out of the tour, he will stay back or return home for his rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy.
The Indian team is currently on a break and will regroup in mid July for the England series.