Perth (Australia): A couple of days before the highly anticipated first Test between India and Australia in Perth, India bowling coach Morne Morkel gave a huge update on Shubman Gill's availability.
Gill, who has been in brilliant form, especially in the longest format of the game, suffered a blow on his left thumb during India's intra-squad match simulation here a few days ago. Following this the reports of him missing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy opener started to circulate in the media.
Morkel said Gill is on the mend as the visitors look to fight fire given that they will be without regular skipper Rohit Sharma for the first game. "Shubman is improving every day. He picked up a nasty blow in that squad game. With him it's going to be a day-to-day sort of process," Morkel told reporters ahead of a training session.
"Fingers crossed for that improvement. They'll wait to make a call with him up until the morning of the Test match," he added.
Morkel, who hails from South Africa, said Jasprit Bumrah will be leading the young pace attack as India would not want to rush Mohammed Shami back into the mix.
"Jassi is a guy who immediately put his hand up and he wanted that leadership role. He's been very successful here in the past. He's a guy that I know, with the ball in hand, will lead from the front and the rest of the younger guys will follow. We're definitely keeping a close eye on Shami. But we need to understand that he's been out of the game for almost a year. We also need to respect him and respect his body as well," Morkel said.
