Captain Shubman Gill released from India's squad ahead of 2nd Test in Guwahati, new captain named
Indian captain Shubman Gill will not be part of the second and final Test against South Africa in Guwahati, after being ruled out of the clash due to a neck injury. Gill travelled with the Indian team contingent to Guwahati and will now travel to Mumbai for further assessment.
Indian captain Shubman Gill has been released from the Test squad ahead of the second and final game against South Africa in Guwahati. Gill, who suffered a neck injury on the second day of the first Test, was admitted to the hospital in Kolkata and then discharged a day later. However, Gill has yet to recover fully from the injury and even though he travelled to Guwahati being optimistic, the chances of him playing were second to none. In Gill's absence, his deputy, Rishabh Pant, will be making his Test captaincy debut in Guwahati.
"Gill suffered a neck injury on Day 2 of the Kolkata Test and was taken to the hospital for examination after the end of day's play," the BCCI's statement read. "He was kept under observation and discharged the next day. He travelled to Guwahati on 19th November, 2025. Unfortunately, he was not fully fit to feature in the 2nd Test and will head to Mumbai for further assessment of his injury.
"Rishabh Pant will lead the team in the 2nd Test in Gill's absence," the statement added. Pant will become India's 38th Test captain and will be the seventh to lead the side in the longest format in the last five years.
"He's doing fine, getting better. He was very keen on playing this Test. I got to know yesterday only that I will be leading in this Test... I've been having a chat with Gill everyday," Pant said at the pre-match press conference when asked about how Gill was doing. The Indian bowling coach, Morne Morkel, had mentioned that Gill had woken up with a neck sprain on last Saturday morning and had walked off after playing just three balls.
With Gill ruled out, India are likely to make a couple of changes, with Sai Sudharsan and Nitish Kumar Reddy likely to come back into the Test side, having missed the Kolkata Test. To counter Simon Harmer's off-spin, India would feel that they need an extra right-hander in the batting order, since there is no Gill and hence, Axar Patel might have to sit out, despite showing some resistance with a counter-attacking knock in the second innings, but in vain.
South Africa lead the series 1-0 and India will need to win the Guwahati Test to level it and avoid a whitewash or the second home series loss in the last three assignments.