IND vs SA 2025: Shubman Gill heads to CoE to seek green signal for T20I series

Shubman Gill is on his way to the BCCI Centre of Excellence (CoE), as of Monday, December 1. This is in relation to his recovery from a neck-related injury. Gill is missing the ODI series against South Africa and is potentially in line to be a part of the T20I series in December, which will commence on December 9 in Cuttack.

Notably, Gill had injured his neck on Day 2 of the first Test in Kolkata. He was subsequently ruled out of the remainder of the Test series due to the injury, with Rishabh Pant leading the team in the second match. For the ODIs, Ruturaj Gaikwad has been drafted into the setup instead of Gill. 

As per Cricbuzz, there is more than a 50% chance that Gill will be cleared by the CoE. Gill had travelled with the team for the second Test in Guwahati, however, he flew to Mumbai for consultations with specialists concerning his injury. He then headed to Chandigarh where he underwent personal rehabilitation.

In addition to being the Test and ODI captain, Gill is also the vice-captain of the T20I unit. The squad for the five-match T20I series is expected to be announced soon. There might be a real possibility that Gill will feature for all the 20-over matches. 

"The captain has put in a lot of hard work during the rehab process. It is up to the CoE now. If everything goes according to plan, he should be in Cuttack by December 6-7, when the T20I squad is expected to assemble," a source privy to the development was quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.

India are currently in the midst of an ODI series against the Proteas. The Men in Blue secured a 17-run victory at the JSCA International Stadium Complex on November 30 to go 1-0 up. Virat Kohli (135 off 120) and Kuldeep Yadav (4/68 in 10 overs) were the star performers for the hosts.

The second and third ODIs are scheduled to be played in Raipur and Visakhapatnam on December 3 (Wednesday) and December 6 (Saturday), respectively.