NEW DELHI: After arriving in Guwahati with the team for the second Test against South Africa, India captain Shubman Gill was released from the squad and left for Mumbai on Friday, TimesofIndia.com reported. Gill had not trained with the team on Thursday.
The report further stated that Gill will remain in Mumbai for the next couple of days before consulting specialist Dr Dinshaw Pardiwala. As of now, he has no plans to travel to the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE), but more clarity is expected in the coming days.
Gill developed the neck spasm on the second day of the opening Test in Kolkata that India lost by 30 runs and hasn't returned to the nets ever since.
Gill is likely to be replaced by Sai Sudharsan in the second Test and spin bowling all-rounder Axar Patel and seam bowling all-rounder Nitish Reddy will fight for the other slot available in the playing eleven.
The Indian team management has kept the media guessing but Rishabh Pant is set to become India's 38th Test captain.
While acknowledging the impact of Gill's absence, India batting coach Sitanshu Kotak expressed confidence in the bench strength.
"But if he is missing out because of injury, we have batters and plenty of good players. They are professionals; they should come and perform for the team," Kotak said.
"We all wish he plays, but if he doesn't, we will definitely have a good replacement and maybe the guy coming in will score a hundred."
