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India ODI and Test captain Shubman Gill took a blow to his right elbow while batting in the nets on Friday, two days before the opening ODI against West Indies, with bowling coach Morne Morkel hoping the team's injury concerns are behind them, reported Cricinfo.
Gill was facing Mohammed Siraj during India's training session when a rearing length delivery struck him on the right elbow. The captain immediately walked away in pain before being attended to by the team's physiotherapist. Siraj checked on Gill, followed by Virat Kohli, who was batting in the first net. Gill subsequently sat down clutching his elbow, and India's support staff strapped his hand. He did not return to batting for the remainder of the session and spent the rest of the training period in recovery. However, Gill appeared more comfortable later and was seen joking around with Gurnoor Brar before walking off the field. Gill has a day and a bit to recover before India begin their three-match ODI series against West Indies on Sunday. The injury scare comes after Gill also suffered a blow to his ring finger during the nets ahead of India's Test series in Sri Lanka last month. He recovered in time to feature in the two Tests. Gill had looked in good touch before Friday's incident, arriving early for training and batting alongside Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ruturaj Gaikwad. He was beaten on the outside edge a couple of times by Nitish Kumar Reddy, who was extracting good bounce, but looked assured against Gurnoor, finding the boundary with several drives. India have dealt with a number of injury concerns this year, with Reddy, Jasprit Bumrah, Harshit Rana and Washington Sundar missing games during or around the team's limited-overs tour of England. Bumrah and Reddy have since returned, while Hardik Pandya and Rana remain sidelined. Speaking on the injury situation on Friday, Morkel said the team wants its strongest possible XI available but acknowledged injuries are part of the game. "Obviously, you want to have your strongest and, condition-wise, the best XI on the field," Morkel said on Friday, according to Cricinfo. "Sadly, it's part of the game that the guys got injured at times where we didn't ideally want them to fall injured. But luckily, we've got fantastic backup in the wings, and it's a great opportunity for the guys to go and play a game for India, to make a name for themselves and to compete." "But ideally, hopefully we can get all the injuries out of the way and later down the year we'll be fine, and we can take it on from there," he added. India will face West Indies in the first ODI in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday. India ODI squad: Shubman Gill (captain), Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, Ruturaj Gaikwad, KL Rahul (vice-captain), Dhruv Jurel, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Gurnoor Brar, Mohammed Siraj, Auqib Nabi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Naman Dhir. West Indies ODI squad: Shai Hope (captain), Jewel Andrew, John Campbell, Keacy Carty, Roston Chase, Matthew Forde, Justin Greaves, Amir Jangoo, Alzarri Joseph, Shamar Joseph, Vitel Lawes, Gudakesh Motie, Keemo Paul, Sherfane Rutherford, Jayden Seales. (ANI)
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