Shubman Gill Sent Back To India Due To Disciplinary Issue
India's T20 World Cup group stage campaign came to an end on Saturday when a poor outfield in Florida caused their last match against Canada to be cancelled. India finished first in Group A and advanced to the Super 8 stage with seven points from three games. Shubman Gill and Avesh Khan, who were a member of the 4-man travelling reserves contingent, will be discharged from the team and will return to India when the Indian side heads to the Caribbean for the upcoming round.
For the Caribbean portion of the competition, the only other travelling reserves that will go with the players are Rinku Singh and Khaleel Ahmed.
Social media has been spreading reports for the past several days that Gill is being sent to India for 'disciplinary issues'. The India batting coach, however, has denied the claims, claiming that everything was scheduled in advance.
Rathour disclosed that the management team had decided, before to the competition, that just two reserve players would be included in the squad for the leg in the Caribbean.
'This was always going to be the plan. There will be four players when we travel to the US. Two will be freed after that, and the other two will accompany us to the West Indies. Thus, since the team was chosen at the outset, this strategy has been in place. We are simply following this as it was planned,' Rathour stated during a press conference.
Rathour said that they would have wanted to have had some match practice before the Super 8 stage, but he stated that the decision was made with the best interests of both teams in mind while discussing the India vs. Canada washout.
'A few reserve players have been let go.' Of course, when you play under less-than-ideal circumstances, that worry is constantly present. Thus, the choice of whether to play or not is made by the match officials. We thus had no voice in that as a team. However, the game would have tremendously benefited us if it had occurred. We were eager to play a match and have a competitive game of cricket,' he continued.
When playing a game in such weather, there's always a chance that anything may go wrong and cause an injury. Super 8 is already here, and you don't want it to continue. Before you begin the tournament's crucial phase, that's the last thing you want to happen," he continued.
India's first Super 8 phase matchup is against Afghanistan on Thursday, June 20 in Barbados.
