India vice captain Shubman Gill made his return to competitive cricket in the opening T20I of the five match series against South Africa on Tuesday after being sidelined due to a neck injury. The 25 year old had previously missed the entire ODI series along with the second Test match following the setback. Gill suffered the injury while batting during the first Test and was unable to come out to bat in India’s second innings. The issue later forced him out of action for the subsequent limited overs fixtures.
Rehab at BCCI’s Centre of Excellence
Following the injury, Gill travelled to the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru to undergo rehabilitation. After completing his recovery process, he was cleared in time for the T20I series. Ahead of the opening match, Gill shared details about the nature of his injury and confirmed that he had been dealing with a disc bulge in his neck that affected his nerves.
“Body feels perfectly fine. Spent a bit of time at the CoE and perfectly fine physically and mentally, feeling ready,” said Gill during a conversation with broadcaster Murali Kartik.
“I had a kind of disc bulge in my neck, which was hitting the nerves. When I went there, I had a bit of a spasm before the start of the play in the morning. And when I played the match, I think I got a strain on my neck and got a bulge which hit the nerves. And had to go to the hospital for a couple of days, but recovered well after that,” he added.
Gill’s early exit in first T20I
Despite his return to the national side, Gill could not make an impact with the bat in the first T20I. He was dismissed for just four runs, falling on the third delivery of India’s innings. Lungi Ngidi picked up his wicket as Gill attempted to clear mid off but failed to time the shot properly, handing a straightforward catch to Marco Jansen.
The series opener remains closely contested, with both sides looking to gain an early advantage.
India Playing XI for 1st T20I
Abhishek Sharma, Shubman Gill, Suryakumar Yadav (c), Tilak Varma, Hardik Pandya, Shivam Dube, Jitesh Sharma (w), Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy, Arshdeep Singh
South Africa Playing XI for 1st T20I
Quinton de Kock (w), Aiden Markram (c), Tristan Stubbs, Dewald Brevis, David Miller, Donovan Ferreira, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Lutho Sipamla, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje
