India’s head coach Gautam Gambhir, who had returned home due to his mother’s illness, will rejoin the team in England three days before the first Test.
Gambhir flew back to India last Wednesday after his mother was admitted to Gangaram Hospital in Delhi with a heart condition. As a result, he missed India’s three-day warm-up match in Beckenham involving the main squad and the ‘A’ team.
According to ESPN Cricinfo, his mother’s health has since improved.
Gambhir will rejoin the squad on Tuesday in Leeds, ahead of the first Test, which begins next Friday at Headingley.
During his absence, assistant coach Ryan Ten Doeschate, batting coach Shitanshu Kotak, and bowling coach Morne Morkel have overseen the team’s preparations.
Once back in England, Gambhir will quickly need to work with the team management to finalize the playing XI for India’s first Test series under Shubman Gill’s captaincy, following the retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli from Test cricket.
In the race to fill the void left by Rohit and Kohli, batsmen like Sai Sudarshan—awaiting his Test debut—and the returning Karun Nair have stepped up. Karun recently forced his case for a Test spot with a double century for India ‘A’ against England Lions in an unofficial Test. Other batsmen, including Dhruv Jurel and Abhimanyu Easwaran, also scored valuable runs in that match.
It’s already known that India’s pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah will play in three of the five Tests in this series, though which three have not yet been decided.
The first Test at Headingley kicks off next Friday.
