With exactly a month to go for the second phase of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 in UAE, preparations are already in progress for the teams. Some of the franchises have already landed in the Middle East with their available players.
Meanwhile, a couple of franchises have also heaved a sigh of relief as their first-choice player is making a good recovery from the injury.
See Also: Shreyas Iyer lands in Dubai to begin preparations for second leg of IPL
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) opener Shubman Gill is expected to regain full fitness before the remainder of IPL 2021, commencing September 19. The BCCI has informed that the youngster is undergoing rehab at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore and is likely to be released for the UAE leg in time.
Gill had sustained a shin injury during the World Test Championship final against New Zealand in Southampton. As result, he got ruled out of the ongoing five-Test series between India and England.
Upon his arrival to India, the 21-year-old stayed at home in July to heal his injury and started training at the NCA at the start of this month.
According to a report published in Cricbuzz, Gill is working on “an Alter-G machine – an anti-gravity treadmill that reduces one’s body weight while running.”
The report further says that the young batsman is responding well and the intensity of his training is set to increase in the coming days.
“He is not feeling pain. Gradually his workload will be increased – from slow jogging to running twice-thrice a week. We’re confident he will be fine by the IPL which is anyway a month away,” Cricbuzz quoted a source as saying on Wednesday (August 18).
Other than Iyer, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) pacer T Natarajan has also recovered and should board the flight to UAE after being released from the NCA by end of the month. The left-armer had picked up a knee injury in the first phase of IPL 2021 after playing just two games.
"We've got the go-ahead and he will be travelling with us to Dubai on August 31," an SRH official told quoted as saying by Cricbuzz.
A total of 31 matches will be played in the second leg of IPL 14, which got underway in April in India but was postponed on May 4 after the completion of 29 games due to COVID-19 positive cases in bio-bubbles of multiple franchises.
