Shubman Gill takes a hit to the elbow in the nets ahead of West Indies ODIs

Shubman Gill took a body blow while batting in the nets two days before the opening ODI against West Indies in Thiruvananthapuram. The India captain was facing Mohammed Siraj when a rearing length ball struck him on the right elbow. He immediately walked away, writhing in pain, with the physiotherapist tending to him. Siraj checked up on him, followed by Virat Kohli, who was batting in the adjacent net.

Gill looked in even more pain as he approached the other side of the net and sat down clutching his elbow. India’s support staff strapped his arm, and he spent the rest of the training session in recovery. He did not return to bat again, although he did joke around with Gurnoor Brar and did not look in too much pain when it was finally time to walk off the field.

Gill has just over 24 hours to get ready for the first ODI against West Indies, which starts on Sunday. His last series for India also began with an injury cloud. Gill was briefly sidelined after he was struck on his ring finger while batting in the nets in Sri Lanka last month, but he was able to pull through in time and take full part in the two-Test series

Before getting hit on Friday, Gill looked in good touch. He was one of the first players to walk out for training, batting alongside Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ruturaj Gaikwad. While he was beaten on the outside edge a couple of times by Nitish Kumar Reddy, who was extracting good bounce, he looked assured against Brar, unleashing a few drives after being circumspect initially.

India have already suffered a spate of injuries this year, with BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia recently suggesting that the board was looking into the issue. The team could not field its best XIs during July’s T20I and ODI tour of England, with Reddy, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Harshit Rana and Washington Sundar injured either during the series or before it. While Bumrah and Reddy have since returned, Pandya and Rana still remain on the sidelines.

“Obviously, you want to have your strongest and, condition-wise, the best XI on the field,” Morkel said on Friday. “Sadly, it’s part of the game that the guys got injured at times when we didn’t ideally want them to fall injured. But luckily, we’ve got fantastic back-up 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.”

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