India captain Shubman Gill returned to batting for the first time in three days after sustaining an injury ahead of the three-day practice game against Sri Lanka Cricket XI at the Nondescripts Cricket Ground in Colombo on Sunday.
After the Indians declared on their overnight scored of 357 of six in response to SLC’s first-innings 363/8d and resumed bowling in the morning session, Gill was seen padded up and batting in the nets on the broadcast visuals.
LIVE: India vs Sri Lanka XI, Live score Practice Match Day 3
On the eve of the practice game on Thursday, the 26-year-old Gill sustained an impact injury on his finger during training.
“Captain Shubman Gill sustained an impact injury to his right ring finger during India’s practice on Thursday. As a precautionary measure, he will not take the field on Day 1 of the warm-up game against SLC XI,” the statement put out by the BCCI, read.
In Gill’s absence, KL Rahul has acted as the stand-in captain on the field. Gill did not bat during India’s first innings where left-hander Devdutt Padikkal made a statement century with his 142-run knock.
India have been dealt with a spate of injuries prior to the resumption of their World Test Championship campaign next week in Galle. After Jasprit Bumrah and Washington Sundar were ruled out due to injuries. When the BCCI released the squad for the two-match Test series, Bumrah’s inclusion was subject to him clearing fitness test. With nearly four-week break before the first Test, India were hoping that Bumrah would regain full fitness by then and were keen to take him on board even if is unlikely to feature in the warm-up fixture. However, during the rehab process, Bumrah is understood to have felt discomfort in his knee and as a result his comeback is expected to take time.
On Saturday, left-handed batter Sai Sudharsan also failed to regain fitness in time for the two-match tour.
Sudharsan, who scored two tons in two ‘A’ Test matches last month, was hit during the second game against Sri Lanka ‘A’ and since then has been in rehabilitation at the Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.
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