Shubman Gill has a stress-related injury to his left leg and could be in danger of being ruled out of the entire five-Test series against England starting in August. ESPNcricinfo has learned that according to preliminary forecast, Indian medical staff suspect that it may take at least eight weeks for Gill to be fit again.
The details of the injury, including its exact nature, are still unclear. During the World Test Championship final, Gill, who opened New Zealand's first innings and even took a brilliant diving catch, showed no discomfort. Although this has not been confirmed, but Gill is believed to have suffered an injury during a fitness training session recently.
This is Gill's first injury since he made his Test debut on the tour of Australia in the 2020-21 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, where he impressed the team management with his bold approach while opening the batting. Currently, Gill is living in London with the rest of the Indian team. He is believed to have expressed his desire to play in the latter part of the England tour, but the team management is expected to make a final decision shortly.
The BCCI has not sent any update on Gill's fitness. Currently, the Indian team is on a three-week break starting from June 24. The team will regroup in Durham from 15 July and train, including playing two practice matches. The BCCI is understood to have recently made a fresh request to the ECB to organize a practice match against one of the counties so that the Indians can get some quality match training ahead of the Test series starting on August 4 at Trent Bridge.
The second Test will be played at Lord's (12-16 August), the third at Headingley (25-29 August), the fourth at The Oval (2-6 September) and the fifth Test at Old Trafford (10-14 September). Soon after the final Test, the Indians will fly directly from Manchester to the UAE to participate in the rest of IPL 2021.
It is believed that Gill will be fully fit in time for the IPL, where he plays for Kolkata Knight Riders.