India’s Shubman Gill during a practice session ahead of the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 match between India and Pakistan, at Narendra Modi Stadium, in Ahmedabad, Friday, Oct. 13, 2023.
Credit: PTI Photo
Ahmedabad: Shubman Gill is all set to make a comeback in the playing XI for the marquee World Cup clash against Pakistan here on Saturday, India skipper Rohit Sharma said on eve of the game.
"99 percent he is available for tomorrow's game," Rohit said during the pre-match media conference here.
Gill looked in fine touch during an extended session at the Motera on Friday.
The manner in which Gill faced the bowlers at the nets, it hardly looked like he was hospitalised last Sunday for dengue, with the blood platelet level dipping to 70,000.
Against Ravichandran Ashwin, Gill looked absolutely regal as he played some crisp on-drives off the off-spinner.
Not for once did Ashwin trouble him as he also lofted him for what would be a certain boundary in a match situation.
Against Mohammed Shami, however, Gill was more watchful as he defended him mostly while unleashing a few savage cuts against a left-arm pacer summoned for the net session.
After around 20 odd minutes at the bowlers' nets, Gill entered the throwdown nets to face some heavy-duty fast deliveries from Nuwan, Raghu and Vikram Rathour.
A few deliveries did trouble him for pace but it still seemed like the time has come for him to replace Ishan Kishan at the top of the order.
During the day, Kishan didn't come to the nets for first hour and a half as he went through the fielding and warm-up game drill, which was a round of foot volley.
While Gill looked in good rhythm despite the two-week break, Shami breathed fire as he repeatedly beat Virat Kohli at the nets on the day.
Shami bowled at a brisk pace and there were two occasions when he squared up India's No 1 batter and also beat him on another couple of occasions.
Kohli was also hurried once by Nuwan's throwdown as he played an identical stroke like the one he played against Josh Hazlewood in Chennai and Mitchell Marsh dropped a sitter.