Indian opener Shubman Gill who did not play the first two matches after testing positive for dengue has started practising ahead of the high-octane encounter against arch-rivals Pakistan at Narendra Modi Cricket Stadium, Ahmedabad on October 12.
Earlier, Sports Tak learned that Gill reached Ahmedabad on October 11. He spent a good amount of time training in the nets after picking up the bat for the first time since he got ill.
Gill is facing a race against time to regain full fitness. Before India’s World Cup 2023 opener against Pat Cummins’ Australia, Gill was hospitalised in Chennai as his platelet count dropped. India beat Australia by six wickets in the run chase. The opener stayed back in Chennai whereas the Indian team travelled to Delhi where they beat Afghanistan comprehensively by eight wickets with 15 overs to spare.
In Gill’s absence, Ishan Kishan has been promoted up the order. After getting out for a duck against Australia’s Mitchell Starc, he contributed with a run-a-ball 47 against Afghanistan on a batting paradise of a wicket while Rohit Sharma did the bulk of the scoring.
It will be interesting to see if Gill will be in the playing XI for the much-awaited clash against Pakistan. If we walks into the side, either Kishan or Shreyas Iyer will be warming the benches.
India and Pakistan played each other in Asia Cup 2023 last month. Gill scored 58 runs in Colombo as India beat Pakistan by a massive margin of 228 runs in the league stage match.
Both India and Pakistan started their World Cup 2023 campaigns with back-to-back wins. Pakistan beat the Netherlands in their campaign opener on October 6 by 81 runs. In the second game against Sri Lanka, Abdullah Shafique and Mohammad Rizwan’s centuries helped them pull off the highest-ever run chase in World Cup history.
In the ODI World Cup 2023, India and Pakistan have gone up against each other seven times. Pakistan are yet to beat India in ODI World Cup. In the previous edition, Virat Kohli-led India beat Pakistan by 89 runs (DLS method).
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