Gill laments frequent injuries, calls for improved fitness within squad

India captain Shubman Gill called for an improvement in fitness within the squad after a spate of injuries hampered the visitors during their 2-1 ODI series defeat to England. Gill expressed frustration at players not being able to last a 3-match series, admitting it disrupted India's balance.

India were laid low by a host of injuries – some even before the series began. Hardik Pandya picked up a quadriceps strain at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence while undergoing rehab for a back injury. Nitish Kumar Reddy, his backup, suffered a quadriceps injury himself, while Harshit Rana and Washington Sundar both picked up hamstring injuries at different stages.

The biggest blow ahead of the decider at Lord's was Jasprit Bumrah's unavailability due to an impact injury on his left knee sustained during the second game in Cardiff. His absence was deeply felt as India's lesser-experienced seamers failed to plug the scoring rate, with England surging to 387.

"If you look at the first squad that we announced, at least five of the players did not play today," Gill said after the Lord's ODI.

"When one player gets injured, you have to play a different combination. If two are injured, you play a different combination. I think if a player is missing after every match, somewhere we are missing a trick. Keeping the World Cup in mind, we have to play eleven matches in a row. And here the players are unable to finish a series of two or three matches. So something is missing somewhere.

"They play one or two matches, there's a niggle and then we're forced to play a different combination which we don't think of playing. So all those things make it difficult if one morning you find out that a player has a niggle. And then it's almost like, 'do you want to take a chance?' Someone is 80 per cent fit, you're playing with five bowlers and if he bowls five overs and goes off the field, then who will you bowl? It is difficult. But somewhere as a group, we need to improve our fitness."

Incidentally, Gill himself retired hurt while batting on 80 in the first ODI in Birmingham due to cramps – something that relapsed at Lord's before he was dismissed for 77.

One player impacted by injuries to seam-bowling all-rounders was Kuldeep Yadav, who warmed the bench throughout the series. Gill put his non-selection at Lord's down to conditions.

"Whenever spinners came on to bowl, we felt like we had to go into a defensive route. Whenever the fast bowlers were bowling, it felt like something was happening. That was the thought process behind not playing an extra spinner."

Summing up the series, Gill reckoned India had a "pretty decent series" but needed to become smarter in assessing conditions.

"Both the matches that we have lost, we were in the game for the majority of the game. And I think it's all about how long we can stay consistently in the game. It almost feels like we are in the game for about 80 per cent of the game."

He has not told us anything: Gill on Rohit's future

Much of the talk heading into the Lord's ODI revolved around Rohit Sharma's future, with speculation of the fixture turning into his swansong. Rohit responded with his 34th ODI hundred, and Gill declared there has been no such indication from his predecessor.

"He's not told us anything. I think it's all out in the media. But there has not been any discussion like that," Gill said, while praising Rohit's 138-run knock.

"Most of the time I was at the non-striker's end watching. Our conversation was mostly that if we keep wickets in hand, only then we would have a chance of chasing a big score like that. We were discussing whether to hit out in the Powerplay or not but hitting the new ball wasn't easy. And I think the way he paced his innings and accelerated when he got to 60 or 70 was great to see."