Shubman Gill's dengue buzz early on Friday, October 6 left the Indian cricket fans surprised right ahead of Men in Blue's clash against Australia in their ODI World Cup opener on October 8. Earlier it was reported that star Indian opener missed the team's training session on Thursday which casted doubts around Gill's availability in the all-important clash against Australia on Sunday.
But in a press conference India's head coach Rahul Dravid gave a big relief to all the fans as he provided a major update on Gill's health and his availability in the crunch game. Dravid said that Gill is feeling better and the medical team hasn't ruled him out of the clash against Kangaroos.
“Shubman is certainly feeling better. Feeling better today, medical team is monitoring. Medical team has not ruled him out. We will se how he feels day after tomorrow,” Dravid said in the presser on Friday, October 6.
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That being said, if somehow Gill couldn't make it to the match against Australia, it would be a significant setback for India. In that case the responsibility to open the innings alongside skipper Rohit Sharma would likely fall on either Ishan Kishan or KL Rahul. Both players possess the expertise of taking the lead at the top, with Kishan notably registering a double ton for India in ODIs in that role.
Rohit's brigade would want Gill to play against Australia by all means, given the young batter's recent heroics.
In 2023, Gill's rapid ascent has firmly established him as an integral part of India's ODI brigade. His recent performances against Australia, coupled with a consistent show throughout the year, vouch for his immense skill and evolving prominence on the global cricket stage.
Delving into Gill's 2023 statistics reveals his dominance in the format; he tops the list in ODI run-scorers. The stylish batsman has accumulated 1,230 runs in just 20 innings, boasting an impressive average exceeding 72. During the year, Gill marked his tally with five centuries and an equal number of half-centuries in the 50-over international format. Moreover, this prodigy from Gujarat Titans also recorded a double hundred in one of the ODIs earlier this year.
Dravid also talked about the team combination ahead of India vs Australia clash.
“This World Cup isn’t going to be decided on whether you’ve read the pitch well or not but on the adaptability and how well you play. The squad will allow us to put out various combination depending on the situation,” Dravid said.
“We haven’t played a lot of 50-over cricket in the last couple of years because of the two t20 world cups. Except for the last couple of months, we haven’t prioritised this format. It will be difficult to play the same number of ODIs as were played between 2015-2019 cycle. ODI cricket allows you see great spells, rotation of strike, good spin, as a coach I would love see this format thrive,” he added.
India's squad for ODI World Cup 2023:
Rohit Sharma (c), Hardik Pandya (vc), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul, Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ishan Kishan, Suryakumar Yadav
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