Shubman Gill injury: Why Shubman Gill not playing in 2nd innings? Has C Pujara opened the batting before in Test cricket?

Dixit Bhargav | 04/12/2021
Shubman Gill injury: Why Shubman Gill not playing in 2nd innings? Has C Pujara opened the batting before in Test cricket?

Shubman Gill not playing in 2nd innings: The regular Indian opening batter hasn’t opened the batting in the second innings.

During the second day of the second Test of the ongoing New Zealand’s tour of India in Mumbai, fans were left surprised after India captain Virat Kohli didn’t enforce the follow-on after his bowlers bowled out the opposition for 62 in 28.1 overs.

The surprise element had grown all the more when Cheteshwar Pujara and not Shubman Gill walked out as Mayank Agarwal’s opening partner in the second innings.

Pujara, who has batted at No. 3 in 139 out of his 156 Test innings, has opened the batting for only the seventh time in his 92-match Test career. The last time when Pujara had opened the batting was in Colombo during the third Test of India’s tour of Sri Lanka six years ago. The match is fondly remembered for him scoring a match-winning 145* (289) to carry the bat in the first innings.

Why is Shubman Gill not playing in 2nd innings vs New Zealand?

Readers must note that Gill didn’t come out to bat as he had suffered a finger injury while fielding at mid-wicket earlier in the session. Gill, who had copped multiple blows on his body while fielding close to the batter, had to walk off the field after getting hit on his finger.

It all had happened on the first delivery of the 19th over when Gill had dropped Kyle Jamieson off Jayant Yadav. With the bowler overstepping, Gill’s drop didn’t hurt India but he surely hurt his finger in the process.

It was in the same over that Gill left the field with uncapped batter Suryakumar Yadav called in as a substitute fielder. In the absence of an official update, it will be interesting to see how much of a role Gill will play in this match at the Wankhede Stadium.

Post Edited By: Dixit Bhargav
Cheteshwar Pujara India New Zealand New Zealand tour of India 2021 Shubman Gill

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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