Gautam Gambhir returned to India on Thursday evening to attend to his mother who has been admitted to a New Delhi hospital following a heart attack.
It was learnt that the Team India head coach’s mother was recuperating in the ICU and her condition was reportedly stable. A team spokesperson confirmed that he had returned home for a “family emergency”.
A closed-door intra-squad warm-up fixture, featuring players of the India and India A squads, began in Beckenham, Kent, on Friday. The match will end on Monday.
It is expected that Gambhir will link up with the squad on Tuesday, three days ahead of the first Test against England beginning in Leeds on June 20. However, nothing is confirmed so far and it will all depend on how his mother recovers in the coming days.
In Gambhir’s absence, assistant coaches Sitanshu Kotak and Ryan ten Doeschate, along with bowling coach Morne Morkel, will be in charge of the group.
The practice match is crucial since it will provide a clue on the batting order which will have a new look following the retirements of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. While it is almost certain that KL Rahul will open the innings with Yashasvi Jaiswal in the opening match of the five-Test series, B. Sai Sudharsan and Karun Nair are expected to fill in the two vacant positions.
Nair has been the top scorer in the two tour games so far with 259 runs, including a double-century in the first match in Canterbury.
There’s also some uncertainty about who the seamer all-rounder will be with the team management having to decide between Shardul Thakur and Nitish Kumar Reddy.
The five-Test series marks the start of a new World Test Championship cycle as well as the beginning of Shubman Gill’s tenure as Test captain.