World Cup 2023: 'Hopefully Shubman Gill will be back soon' — Vikram Rathour provides update on opener

India batting coach Vikram Rathour has provided the latest update on Shubman Gill’s fitness, saying that the opener is “recovering well”. The BCCI has not yet revealed the nature of Gill’s absence, but media reports have stated that Gill has dengue fever and was hospitalised in Chennai after his platelet count dropped.

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The cricketer has since been discharged but will miss India’s match against Afghanistan in Delhi on Wednesday and could also miss the game against Pakistan on 14 October.

“He is recovering well; he was hospitalized yes, but that was more as a precaution. He is back in the hotel [in Chennai]. He is looking good, being monitored by the medical team. Whatever update we get, we are hoping that he will recover pretty soon,” Rathour said on the eve of the India-Afghansitan match.

“As far as the team is concerned, everybody is fit. Hopefully, Gill will be back in the mix pretty soon,” he added.

Ishan Kishan, who got out on a duck against Australia, is expected to open again for India on Wednesday and Rathour hoped the Ranchi cricketer comes good against Afghanistan.

“He has opened in the past and he has played as an opener. So, no specific discussions on that. That was one of the reasons he was in the team. We knew that he can bat top of the order or in the middle order. He’s done that before, so just hoping that he comes good tomorrow,” he said.

Rathour also refused to entertain the suggestion of playing KL Rahul at No 4 instead of Shreyas Iyer.

“No, not at the moment. He’s doing so well at No. 5. Shreyas [Iyer] has done really well for us at No. 4, so absolutely no temptations,” he said.

He added that team management is looking to give ample opportunities to players they pick and Suryakumar Yadav could only come back into the squad if the think tank feels India is in need of the Mumbai batter.

“The belief of the team management is that whoever is picked should get a proper opportunity. We need to back everyone. If there is a situation where we feel Surya should be brought in, he has been batting really well, then he will definitely play,” Rathour said.

Suryakumar scored two fifties against Australia in three matches ahead of the World Cup.