BENGALURU: India Test skipper and T20 vice-captain Shubman Gill reached the BCCI Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru for fitness assessment and preparations ahead of travelling to Dubai for the upcoming Asia Cup.
The Indian squad members are scheduled to assemble in Dubai on September 4 ahead of their tournament opener on September 9 against the host United Arab Emirates.
A bout of flu had forced Gill to skip the ongoing Duleep Trophy quarterfinal against East Zone, where he was named as the North Zone captain.
Gill was recovering from his illness at his Chandigarh home before flying out to Bengaluru. It’s possible that Gill may fly out of Bengaluru to Dubai as this time the players will reach Dubai in a staggered manner from their respective locations unlike in the past when the team would assemble in Mumbai before travelling en bloc.
Apart from Gill, wicketkeeper-batter Jitesh Sharma too has arrived at the CoE for pre-tournament preparations.
PTI understands that lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah, Washington Sundar, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Mohammad Siraj and Shardul Thakur too are set to arrive at CoE for the mandatory pre-season assessment.
Thakur is set to lead West Zone in the Duleep Trophy semifinals, while Jaiswal and Washington, who are on the standby list for the Asia Cup, are also set to feature in the last four matches of the domestic season opener.
Some of the other Asia Cup-bound players such as Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana (North Zone) and Kuldeep Yadav (Central Zone) are already playing the Duleep Trophy quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, South Zone will have to name a new skipper for the Duleep Trophy semifinals (September 4-7) as Tilak Varma has been included in the Asia Cup squad.
Kerala’s Mohammed Azharuddeen is the vice-captain, and he could be promoted to the leadership role, or the team could opt for more experienced candidates in R. Sai Kishore, Devdutt Padikkal or N. Jagadeesan.
East Zone suffered a setback as pacer Mukesh Kumar was not bowling in the second innings, possibly owing to a niggle that he sustained during the first innings.
The Bengal pacer sat out for nine overs in the first innings to tend to his thigh/groin before resuming bowling. Mukesh also came out to bat in East Zone’s first innings.
However, he was not available to bowl in the second innings on the third day of the Duleep Trophy quarterfinals.