India to wait on Gill until morning of opening Test

Perth: A final call on Shubman Gill’s availability for the opening Test against Australia will be taken on the morning of the match, India’s bowling coach Morne Morkel said on Wednesday, adding that uncapped batting all-rounder Nitish Reddy will be the one to keep an eye on.

Gill remains doubtful for the series-opener, starting here Friday, at the Optus Stadium after copping a blow to his left thumb during India’s intra-squad training match here a few day ago. Morkel said Gill is on the mend as the visitors look to fight fire given that they will be without regular skipper Rohit Sharma for the first game. “Shubman is improving every day. He picked up a nasty blow in that squad game. With him it’s going to be a day-to-day sort of process,” Morkel told reporters ahead of a training session. “Fingers crossed for that improvement. They’ll wait to make a call with him up until the morning of the Test match,” he added. Morkel said Reddy will be one to watch out for in the series given his all-round skills.

Left-arm seam bowler Yash Dayal has been added to India’s reserve pacers’ list after Khaleel Ahmed had to be sent back home due to an unspecified niggle. He flew directly to Perth from Johannesburg after Khaleel developed a niggle and was unable to bowl in the nets.