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India's young batter Shubman Gill may miss the first Test of the three-Test series against New Zealand. Gill has complained of neck and shoulder pain ahead of the series opener at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru.
As per a report by India Today, Gill informed the team management about the niggle on October 14. A call on whether Gill will play the first Test will be taken on the morning of the first Test before the coin toss.
Rohit on playing XI for first Test
On October 14 in the pre-match press conference, skipper Rohit Sharma remained tight-lipped about the playing XI after the practice session was cancelled due to rain.
"It all depends on the conditions. Today it has been raining. The pitch is under covers. We will take a call tomorrow morning on 3 pacers or 2 pacers and our best-playing XI. We are keeping our options open," Rohit said.
Who will replace Gill?
If Gill is not cleared to play on October 15, India have two options Dhruv Jurel and Sarfaraz Khan have been warming the benches since senior players Rishabh Pant and KL Rahul returned to the squad. Sarfaraz who scored a record-breaking double century for Mumbai in Irani Cup final may get the nod ahead of Jurel if Gill is unfit to play the first Test.
The 25-year-old has been in good form a late. After a duck in the first innings of Chennai Test, be scored an unbeaten 119 in the second innings. In the Kanpur Test, he looked to score quickly and contributed with a quickfire 39. He had a soft dismissal in the run chase and finished with 164 runs from four innings.
India’s squad for Test series against New Zealand –
Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, Sarfaraz Khan, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dhruv Jurel (wk), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohd. Siraj, Akash Deep
Travelling Reserves: Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Mayank Yadav and Prasidh Krishna
