The BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India) has come under fire from former Indian opener Aakash Chopra for failing to provide a clear update on Shubman Gill’s fitness. Due to dengue, the teenage batting star missed the team’s opening game against Australia in Chennai. He will now be absent from the team’s second match against Afghanistan in Delhi, which is scheduled for October 11th.
The right-handed batter was making excellent progress, according to India’s head coach Rahul Dravid, but he would not be going to Delhi with the team because he needed more time to heal. Chopra expressed his dissatisfaction with the team, saying that since they won’t give the real reason, everyone can believe Gill is suffering from dengue or something similar.
“Shubman Gill has a disease. He is still not physically fit. Chopra was cited on his YouTube channel as saying, “The Indian team has agreed they won’t tell us clearly, that we can keep thinking, we can claim it’s dengue or whatever we feel like, but they won’t tell us.
The 46-year-old continued by claiming that because Gill was not seen on the field and did not travel with the team, his health wasn’t in the best of shape.
“He is not in a favorable position when he is not moving and did not go to the ground in the last game. The Indian team had stated that they would make a decision at the final minute because he was getting healthier and felt great. You were telling that you were keeping an eye on him in Chennai, but he isn’t even healthy enough to travel to Delhi,” the former player continued.
Ishan Kishan will open alongside skipper Rohit Sharma in place of Gill, who will not play against Hashmatullah Shahidi’s Afghanistan despite scoring zero against Australia at Chepauk. During the game, Rohit and Shreyas Iyer were also dismissed for ducks in addition to the wicketkeeper-batter. However, India’s innings was led by Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, who enabled his team defeat Pat Cummins and company by six wickets.