Shubman Gill sustains toe injury, likely to be out of last two T20Is

Lucknow, Dec 17 (PTI) Out-of-form India vice-captain Shubman Gill has been ruled out of the last two T20I games against South Africa with a toe injury, sources close to the team told PTI.

It is learnt that Gill has sustained the injury during training session and all precautionary measures are being taken to ensure his speedy recovery.

“Shubman had an extended batting session at the nets on the eve of the fourth T20 International. Towards the end of the session, he was hit on the toe while batting in the nets. He was in pain and was hobbling. It would have been difficult for him to play on Wednesday. Hence he didn’t accompany the team as there was little chance of him playing this game.

“At this point it is difficult to say if he will play in Ahmedabad,”

a BCCI source told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

With New Zealand T20Is being the last series before the T20 World Cup and the squad for that bilateral series and the marquee event set to be the same, the national selection committee as well as team management will like to take all necessary precautions with regards to one of their specialist top order batters.

Gill also missed the Test and ODI series against the Proteas due to a neck injury sustained on the second day of the opening game in Kolkata which required two-day hospitalization. He missed the Guwahati Test and the following ODI series where he was supposed to captain the team.

He was declared fit by the Centre of Excellence (COE) ahead of the T20I series even as critics have been questioning his place in the side ahead of Sanju Samson, who had hit three centuries in the preceding series.

Gill’s returns for the series has been low with 4 and 0 in the first two outings followed by a run-a-ball 28 in the third game in Dharamsala, where he didn’t look in his elements.

However the entire coaching staff headlined by Gautam Gambhir has firmly backed their star batter to come good at the T20 World Cup starting February, next year. PTI APA/KHS KHS KHS ATK