New Delhi: India captain Shubman Gill will travel to Mumbai for further evaluation of the neck injury that forced him out of the second Test against South Africa in Guwahati, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said on Friday.
With Gill unavailable, wicketkeeper-batter Rishabh Pant has been named captain for the must-win Test, after India’s 30-run defeat in the opening match in Kolkata. Gill had travelled with the squad to Guwahati on November 19 but did not take part in training due to the injury, which had earlier required hospitalisation in Kolkata.
“Team India captain Shubman Gill, who suffered a neck injury during the first Test against South Africa, has been ruled out of the second Test in Guwahati,” BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia said in a statement. “He was taken to the hospital for examination at the end of Day 2 in Kolkata, kept under observation and discharged the following day. He travelled to Guwahati on November 19 but was not fit to play and will now head to Mumbai for further assessment. Rishabh Pant will lead the team in his absence.”
Gill is understood to have departed for Mumbai early Friday from Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport. He is likely to consult Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala, Head of the Centre for Sports Medicine and Director of Arthroscopy & Shoulder Service at Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, to determine the next steps in his recovery.
Dr Pardiwala is also supervising the rehabilitation of Shreyas Iyer, who suffered a spleen laceration with internal bleeding during India’s third ODI against Australia on October 25 and was hospitalised in Sydney. Iyer has since returned to Mumbai but will require additional months to regain full fitness.
Gill’s injury also places his participation in the upcoming ODI series against South Africa, beginning November 30, in serious doubt.
Meanwhile, Pant will become India’s 38th Test captain, and only the second wicketkeeper-batter after MS Dhoni to lead the side in Test cricket. He previously captained India in a five-match T20I series against South Africa in June 2022.
Pant is set to be India’s seventh Test captain in the last five years, tasked with securing a series-levelling victory at Guwahati, which will be India’s 30th Test venue.
