Just in the India-England series alone — there were as many as 4 injuries in the visiting camp, that turned the tide in opposition’s favour. The list includes Hardik Pandya — before the tour, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Harshit Rana, Washington Sundar, and also Jasprit Bumrah, who only played two ODIs, before being ruled out for 3rd. Skipper Shubman Gill minced no words after team’s defeat in the Lord’s ODI, and said that the team cannot afford players getting injured every few matches, with the 2027 World Cup coming up.
Shubman Gill opens up on injury issues in team
He further added, that these injuries only lead to unecessary change in team combinations, that too last minute changes, that might not work out well. “If you look at the first squad we had announced [for the England ODI series], from that minimum five players did not play this match,” he said.
“If one player is injured you look at playing another combination, two players are injured you look at playing another combination, but if after every match some player is missing then somewhere we are missing a trick. If you keep the World Cup as the goal where we have to play 11 matches in a row and here we have players not being able to finish a two-to-three-match series.
“So there is some limitation where our players are not being able to play continuously, they play one or two matches, they suffer a niggle and then we are forced to play a different combination which we originally did not plan to play.”
Can’t go to World Cup with mediocre fitness
He also said it in as many words, that the players needed to work harder on their fitness. 80% fitness is just not good enough at this level. “So keeping all this mind it becomes a little difficult that you come to the ground on the morning and you come to know a player has a niggle, then it’s almost like do you want to take a chance? Some player is 80% fit, you are playing with five bowlers and if this player comes out after bowling five overs, then who will bowl? This is difficult. So as a group we need improved our fitness and all those things.”
At the end of the tour, India just managed to win only one encounter, that too the first ODI. Apart from that they lost the Ireland series 0-2, then England T20Is 0-4, and now the ODIs 1-2, which only raises questions on their effectiveness.
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