Surprised To See Shubman Gill Hide His Injury: Saba Karim

Former Indian player Saba Karim has questioned Shubman Gill’s injury in the ongoing tour of England. The young opener is also expected to miss the five Test match series against the Three Lions.

Saba Karim further added that the opener should not have travelled to England if he was aware of the injury. Notably, Shubman Gill had opened the innings for team India along with Rohit Sharma in the WTC final against New Zealand.

However, he failed to deliver good results with the bat as he scored just 28 and 8 runs in the two innings that he played against the Kiwis. Virat Kohli’s men eventually went on to lose the final by eight wickets against the black caps, who were crowned as the inaugural Test champions.

Now as per several reports, Shubman Gill is likely to be replaced by Mayank Agarwal in the upcoming 5 Test match series. Agarwal hasn’t played the longest format of the game for quite a while now but his records are pretty amazing, averaging 45 in 14 Tests.

But there also comes rumours of Prithvi Shaw’s inclusion, drafting him from the limited-overs squad for the Sri Lanka series.

Saba Karim said that he was surprised as Shubman Gill tried to hide his injury, given he was there with team India for quite a long time. The 53-year old has also been shocked at how it did not come up, considering medical professionals working with team India with their fitness.

“I was surprised to see Shubman Gill hide his injury. He has been travelling for a long time with the Indian team. There are physios and other medical staff tracking the fitness of the players. It’s very surprising in the first place, how it happened and why it didn’t come up earlier,” Karim said as quoted by News18.com.

Mayank Should Be Given Preference: Saba Karim

The former Indian cricketer further opted Mayank Agarwal to open the innings with Rohit Sharma in the upcoming series against England if Gill remains out of the team due to injury.

“Mayank should be given preference. We have been harsh towards Mayank. He was sidelined after just 2-3 failed innings,” he added.

The Karnataka-born averages a healthy 45.23 in 14 Tests, has scored 1052 runs including three centuries and four fifties. And has a double-century to his name as well.

The 30-year-old was first pushed down the lower order once Rohit returned to India’s XI during the Australia tour and then didn’t get a game during the home series against England where India persisted with the combination of Rohit and Gill.