In a blow to India, captain Shubman Gill was stretchered out into the Woodlands hospital hours after retiring hurt on Day 2 of the first Test against South Africa in Kolkata.
Gill experienced neck pain while batting on the second day and went off the field after sweeping a four off spinner Simon Harmer. The BCCI had stated about his injury.
"Shubman Gill has a neck spasm and is being monitored by the BCCI medical team. A decision on his participation today will be taken as per his progress," BCCI said in a release.
Meanwhile, a report in PTI confirmed that Gill has been stretchered into an ambulance after getting retired hurt on Day 2 of the Test at Eden Gardens. Moreover, his participation in the remainder of the Test is in doubt.
Notably, as per the latest update, Gill has been admitted with a spine problem. A medical board of 6 doctors has been formed. Moreover, his condition is now stable, the hospital informed.
Injury due to sleep and not workload: Morne Morkel
India bowling coach Morne Morkel brushed aside the workload management talks of Gill, calling that the injury might have been due to the sleep. "Yeah, I think we first need to determine how he got the neck stiffness, maybe just a bad night's sleep. I don't think it's, or we can put it down to the load," Morkel said, when asked if Gill’s packed multi-format calendar was a factor.
Gill has been playing in all formats ever since the Asia Cup 2025, when he was appointed T2I vice-captain and later the India ODI captain too. He played in Australia and hardly had any time to rest before the Test series against South Africa.
"Gill is a very fit guy; he looks after himself very well, so it’s just unfortunate this morning that he woke up with a stiff neck and that carried him into the day, which was crucial for us. Another sort of partnership with him batting around was going to be needed for us at the time, and...just bad timing," he said further.
