India captain Rohit Sharma on Saturday conceded that opener Shubman Gill is still in contention to play their opening game of the ICC World Cup 2023 against Australia despite contracting dengue earlier this week.
Gill has been down with fever over the past few days but is feeling better and might still make it to India's playing XI for Sunday's clash in Chennai.
"I want Shubman Gill to get well soon. We will give every chance to him to recover. He's still not ruled out. He is a young guy, he is fit body and he will recover soon," Sharma said at the pre-match press conference.
Gill has been in outstanding form with the bat for India this year and is the team's highest scorer in ODIs with 1230 runs from 20 games at an average of over 72 with five hundreds, five fifties and a best score of 208.
It will be a huge blow to the Men in Blue is he is unable to get well in time for the match against Australia. India will have to replace him with Ishan Kishan as the opener.
'Feeling better today'
India head coach Rahul Dravid also provided a positive update on the stylish right-hand batter.
"He’s certainly feeling better today. The medical team is monitoring on daily basis. We have 36 hours, we’ll see what decision they take.
"He’s certainly feeling better today. Medical team hasn’t ruled him out as yet. We’ll keep monitoring him on a day to day basis. We’ll see how he feels day after tomorrow," Dravid told reporters.
