Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir is returning home from England as his mother is in ICU, according to news agency PTI. Gambhir travelled to England before the members of the senior team in order to monitor how the junior side (India A) fares against England Lions in the 2-match unofficial Test series. On Friday, when India was set to play an intra-squad match for the series, the news agency claimed that Gambhir was returning to India due to a family emergency. Another such family matter had earlier prompted Gambhir to fly back home from Australia during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
The report said Gambhir had to fly back to attend to his mother, who suffered a heart attack and is currently in ICU in a New Delhi hospital.
“Gautam’s mother had a heart attack on Wednesday. He and his family left for India on Thursday and they have reached Delhi,” news agency PTI quoted sources as saying on Friday.
With Gambhir away, assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate will assume the team’s charge during the four-day intra-squad match between India and India A, which begins on Friday.
Ten Doeschate will have help available from other members of the coaching staff like bowling coach Morne Morkel and batting coach Sitanshu Kotak. Gambhir is expected to be back in a week and join the squad ahead of the start of the England Test series on June 20.
In the upcoming series, India faces a massive challenge in the testing conditions of England. After batting wizards Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli bid adieu to Test cricket last month, India was left short on experience. With India bereft of its torchbearers, the management turned to youngsters to mark the beginning of a new era.
The five-test tour of England starts June 20 at Leeds and lasts until August 2025. With India lining up without its batting bigwigs Rohit and Virat following their retirement from the game’s longest format, the onus lies on the Shubman-led revamped side to prove itself away from home in testing and gruelling English conditions.
The series will be held from June to August, with matches scheduled at Headingley in Leeds, Edgbaston in Birmingham, Lord’s and The Oval in London, and Old Trafford in Manchester.
India’s Test squad for England series: Shubman Gill (c), Rishabh Pant (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Sai Sudharsan, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Karun Nair, Nitish Reddy, Ravindra Jadeja, Dhruv Jurel, Washington Sundar, Shardul Thakur, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Prasidh Krishna, Akash Deep, Arshdeep Singh, Kuldeep Yadav.
England squad for first Test vs India: Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Harry Brook, Brydon Carse, Sam Cook, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jamie Overton, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Ben Stokes (capt), Josh Tongue, Chris Woakes.
With ANI Inputs