‘Not aware of his status’: India sweat over Shubman Gill’s participation in pink-ball practice match

India assistant coach Abhishek Nayar gave an update on right-hander Shubman Gill, saying the youngster batted pain-free in the nets at Manuka Oval, Canberra, ahead of the two-day practice match against the Prime Minister’s XI. Gill had missed the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy after suffering a fracture to his left thumb. The 25-year-old had sustained the injury while playing at slip during the match simulation against India A in Perth.

Gill then missed the series opener against Australia at Optus Stadium, Perth, and in his place it was Devdutt Padikkal who played at No. 3 in the match.

However, Abhishek Nayar has refrained from making a final call on Gill, saying his participation in the practice match will depend on the physio.

“He is batting now. The evaluation will be done by our physio. I am not aware of his status. But when he batted, he looked very comfortable. He is batting indoors. We will assess whether he will play tomorrow’s game after the evaluation,” said Nayar to reporters in Canberra on Friday.

On Friday, Shubman Gill faced a couple of underarm throws before increasing the intensity of his training. He faced Yash Dayal and Akash Deep in the nets and now it remains to be seen if he plays the pink-ball training game.

Gill bats with Rohit Sharma in the nets

Shubman Gill was also seen batting with India captain Rohit Sharma in the nets. For the uninitiated, Rohit had also missed the series opener to spend some time with his family.

“I was just trying to get a feel to be honest, see how the injury reacts if there is any kind of soreness, but it went a lot better than me and Kamlesh bhai (Kamlesh Jain, physio) expected. Very happy with it, Gill said in a video posted by the BCCI on X after the training session.

“Every ball when it hits the middle of the bat, the feeling you get, that’s the feeling I play for. When I got to know about my injury, the first couple of days I was pretty low and disappointed,” added he.

Rohit Sharma and his wife Ritika Sajdeh had recently welcomed their second child, a baby boy. In Rohit’s absence, KL Rahul had played as an opener.

But when asked what position Rohit will play back for the second Test in Adelaide, Abhishek Nayar said: “It’s too early for us to think about it. We’ll just try to take this game and see how it goes . And then maybe come up with plans when we get to Adelaide.”

Talking about India, the visitors registered an emphatic 295 runs in the first Test against Australia to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series.

The visitors will now play a two-day practice match against the Prime Minister’s XI, starting on November 30 at Manuka Oval. This match will serve as a perfect way to fine-tune skills ahead of the all-important pink-ball Test in Adelaide.

The second Test of the five-match series will be played at Adelaide Oval from 6-10. December.