Shubman Gill could be back in action as early as the upcoming five-match T20I series between India and South Africa if reports are to be believed. Gill is said to have been given fitness clearance by the BCCI’s
Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru where he was undergoing rehab after injuring his neck last month.
“Shubman Gill has successfully completed his rehabilitation at CoE and has met the requisite criteria to be declared fit for all formats of the game,” a communication from the CoE has gone to the team management’s Sports Science and Medicine (SSM) team, comprising physio Kamlesh Jain, strength and conditioning coach Adrian Le Roux and sports doctor Dr Charles.
While batting during India’s first innings of the Kolkata Test against South Africa, Gill aggravated a neck issue while playing a slog sweep for a four. He was admitted to a hospital immediately after the fitness concern and was discharged a day later.
The India Test captain then flew to Mumbai where he consulted a specialist and was advised rest before starting rehab.
Gill missed the remainder of the fixture in Kolkata and the following Test in Guwahati as India endured a 0-2 clean sweep at the hands of South Africa. He also didn’t make the cut in India’s squad for the ongoing ODI series with South Africa either.
However, earlier this week, he was picked in India’s 15-man squad for the five T20Is with his availability subject to him getting fitness clearance from COE, which he reportedly has obtained.
The series gets underway from December 9 in Cuttack.
The T20Is will also see all-rounder Hardik Pandya making his return from a left quadricep injury which pushed him to the sidelines since September 26 when India faced Sri Lanka in a Super Four match of the 2025 Asia Cup. He recently made his competitive return in the ongoing Syed Mushtaq Ali Trophy, hitting 77 runs against Punjab.
The likes of Rinku Singh and Nitish Reddy though have been dropped.
India T20I Squad: Suryakumar Yadav (captain), Shubman Gill (vice-captain), Abhishek Sharma, Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jitesh Sharma (wicketkeeper), Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar
