ICC World Cup 2023: ‘Gill is looking good’

Shubman Gill. Pic/AFP

As the Men in Blue grow from strength to strength with every game at the ongoing World Cup, the team's young opener Shubman Gill, 22, is also following suit, picking up strength as he recovers from a severe bout of dengue that needed hospitalisation.

On Thursday, around noon, Gill gave India's cricket aficionados a pleasant surprise when he hit the nets at the Narendra Modi Stadium here.

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Gill trained for a good hour or so during which he faced both spinners and pace bowlers. Accompanying him were Team India's left-arm throwdown expert Nuwan Seneviratne, physio Kamlesh Jain and team doctor Rizwan Khan.

Team India have already missed the services of Gill for the opening two matches of their World Cup campaign, against Australia and Afghanistan. And though there is no official confirmation from the team management about whether he will don the blues for Saturday's marquee clash, BCCI secretary Jay Shah was convinced that the prolific opener had performed well at the practice session earlier in the day.

"Shubman came for net practice today around 11am, for around an hour. He was looking good. He even did a few sprints and was looking comfortable," said Shah.

That the Indian team management got Gill to face Seneviratne's sharp left-arm throwdowns could also be an indication that he is eyeing a comeback in the Pakistan match, considering the opposition's biggest threat comes from their left-arm speedster Shaheen Afridi.

According to one of the net bowlers, Gill was in good touch, both against spinners and pacers. "He looks confident, and was middling everything that he faced with proper shots," one net bowler revealed later.

A final call on Gill's availability will only be made on Friday, it is learnt.

With inputs from Amit Shah