IND vs AUS: Shubman Gill returns to nets, recovery better than expected

Shubman Gill returned to the India nets on Friday, showing enough signs of a full recovery from a thumb injury that ruled him out of the series opener against Australia in Perth.

Gill's absence was not felt in Perth as India won the game by 295 runs but considering his impressive run on the previous tour, the visitors need him at his best over the course of the five-match series.

The top-order batter was seen facing Yash Dayal and Akash Deep in the nets ahead of the pink-ball warm-up game against Australian PM's XI starting Saturday.

"I was just trying to get a feel to be honest, see how the injury is reacting, if any kind of soreness is there but it went much better than what I and Kamlesh bhai (Kamlesh Jain, physio) expected. Very happy with that," Gill said in a video posted by BCCI on X after the training session here.

Gill was naturally disappointed about getting injured ahead of the first Test but India's special performance put him back in a positive frame of mind. 

"Any ball when it hits the middle of the bat, the feeling that you get, that is the feeling I play for. When I got to know about my injury, first couple of days I was quite low and disappointed.

"Perth is the only venue we did not play last time around (2020-21). It is such an iconic venue. But the way we played at the end of it, I was very happy," the batter added.

In Gill's absence, Devdutt Padikkal came at number three for India but could not deliver.

However, it is not a given that Gill will return to his usual batting position as K L Rahul excelled as an opener in Perth in skipper Rohit Sharma's absence.

While Rohit is expected to open alongside Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rahul could come in at three pushing Gill to number 5.

It remains to be seen if India experiment in the batting order in the warm-up game as all batters would be allowed a hit in the middle considering it is not a first-class game.