After a recent horror run with the bat in the first innings of Test matches over the past three months, India will be keen to arrest the trend when they take on Australia in the third of the five-match Test series for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Brisbane on Saturday.
Returning from a left thumb injury, Shubman Gill top-scored with 50 as India beat Prime Minister's XI by six wickets in the 50-over pink-ball warm-up game here at the Manuka Oval on Sunday.
India’s batting coach Abhishek Nayar, who kept a close eye on Gill’s return to the nets with the Indian team in Canberra, believes the batter looks ‘comfortable’ to return back in action.
While fielding in the slips, Gill took a blow to his thumb, leaving the field immediately and not returning for the remainder of the intra-squad match-simulation session.
A week before the opening Test at the Optus Stadium in Perth, India suffered a setback after Shubman Gill suffered a left thumb injury while taking a catch on the second day of India’s intra-squad training match at the WACA.
The Indian opening pair made a mincemeat of a 153-run target with Yashasvi turning on the heat on the Zimbabwe bowling before Gill joined the party but let his left-handed opening partner lead the proceedings against a hapless home attack.
The win helped the visitors take a 2-1 lead in the five-match rubber.
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The Pat Cummins-led outfit will also gun for a top-two finish, considering they have another game at hand and also boasts of a healthy net run-rate of +0.406.
Mohit Sharma was excellent with his variations to pick 3-31 while Rashid Khan ended a three-game wicketless run to take 2-38 as Gujarat Titans keep their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 Playoffs hopes alive with a comfortable 35-run win over Chennai Super Kings at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Friday.
