Gautam Gambhir Issues Urgent Return To India from England Tour

The Indian team will not have head coach Gautam Gambhir, at least at the beginning of the private intra-squad practice match in Beckenham, which begins on Friday. The Statesman has discovered that Gautam Gambhir hurried back to India on Wednesday due to a family crisis.

A report states that Gambhir’s mother experienced a heart attack and was taken to the ICU, prompting Gautam Gambhir to hasten back home.

With Gautam Gambhir unavailable, the team will be managed by assistant coaches Sitanshu Kotak and Ryan ten Doeschate, along with bowling coach Morne Morkel. Currently, Hrishikesh Kanitkar is leading the India A team.

The warm-up match lasting until June 16 will enable the senior squad to evaluate player performance as the team prepares under new captain Shubman Gill for the initial Test against England, beginning June 20 at Headingley.

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Although Gautam Gambhir’s return date to England is currently uncertain, his absence coincides with a critical moment as the Indian team prepares for a significant transition during the five-Test series against England, following the recent retirements of three key players—Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli, and Ravichandran Ashwin. Therefore, the team management was anticipated to finalize the batting order, a matter Gambhir had suggested would be decided nearer to the first Test.

The departures of Rohit and Kohli have opened up two positions in the batting lineup, and among the new players in the team, B Sai Sudharsan and Karun Nair have come forward as top candidates to occupy those roles.

Team India’s Practice Game Where Gautam Gambhir will Absent

In the meantime, the management chose to hold the India vs India A practice match without an audience. Although the BCCI did not officially disclose the reason for their decision, it is believed that they chose to keep it a private matter because the match lacked first-class status.

“June 13-16: Intra-squad game closed.” No visibility access to Media/Broadcast. “BCCI announced in a statement that a player or support staff member will be accessible to the media on the last day of the squad game.”

Furthermore, it remains uncertain which regulations will be adhered to in the practice match and which players will represent India or India A. Numerous players from the India A team, such as KL Rahul, Karun Nair, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Nitish Reddy, Dhruv Jurel, Shardul Thakur, Akash Deep, and Abhimanyu Easwaran, are also key members of the India squad for the Test series.

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Within India’s Test team members who played for India A in two unofficial Tests against England Lions, Nair, Dhruv Jurel, and Abhimanyu Easwaran stood out with their batting performances. Nair led the series in scoring with 259 runs, featuring a double-century in the opening match in Canterbury.

Jurel, on the other hand, scored 227 runs with three half-centuries, while Easwaran made two fifties. KL Rahul, expected to open the batting alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal in the series, achieved scores of 116 and 51 in his sole appearance in Northampton.

India A Squad: Abhimanyu Easwaran (captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Karun Nair, Dhruv Jurel (vice-captain/wicket-keeper), Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shardul Thakur, Ishan Kishan (wicket-keeper), Manav Suthar, Tanush Kotian, Mukesh Kumar, Akash Deep, Harshit Rana, Anshul Kamboj, Khaleel Ahmed, Ruturaj Gaikwad, Sarfaraz Khan, Tushar Deshpande, Harsh Dubey

India Test Squad: Shubman Gill (captain), Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper/vice captain), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel (wicket-keeper), Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav