Indian team’s spin coach Sairaj Bahutule cleared the air about captain Shubman Gill’s readiness for the upcoming first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle from August 15 onwards.

The India Test captain returned to bat as an opener on the last day of the practice match after missing the first two days of the warm-up match against the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) XI.  

Gill, 26, was hit twice on his right hand on the eve of the match, which was a setback. Gill batted as an opener during India's pursuit of 207 after a long practice session in the nets on Sunday. Gill was dismissed after scoring 44.

Following the warm-up match's six-wicket victory, India coach Bahutule stated that Gill is doing just fine and that his refusal to play during the first two days was solely due to safety concerns.

“I think it was just a precaution more than anything else. And he has been absolutely fine. He has been doing his training. And the management decided that we could just take that precaution of not putting him into that on the first day. And I think everything, the way he batted in the second inning was again, you know, flawless. And he is very much ready for the Test match,” Bahutule told reporters on Sunday after the end of the warm-up match.

Bahutule also shed light on Shubman's preparation before a series, saying the Indian skipper doesn't want to leave anything to chance ahead of the Test series.

“Shubman takes his preparation very seriously. And he is a very meticulous boy. And he understands that, whatever the demand is for that particular series, the attack has been successful for the Sri Lankan team. His preparation is done accordingly. So, the net bowlers who have come with us have a good opportunity to bowl Shubman. And we were running a few scenarios, and Shubman was responding to them. And I think this helps him to prepare,” Bahutule said.

“And that was our effort. And the lower-order bowlers, as you saw, Gurnoor and Sairaj did a good job of batting. So, there is a process. All the lower-order bowlers, who basically bat in the lower order, their contribution will always be very useful to achieve a good total in the test match. And that is the entire process. We are encouraging them to bat as much as possible in the nets,” he added.

Devdutt Padikkal starred with the bat, scoring a century, while Ravindra Jadeja and Yashasvi Jaiswal made fifties. Meanwhile, Sai Sudharsan has been ruled out of the upcoming two-Test series against Sri Lanka due to a toe fracture and has been replaced in the India squad by Sarfaraz Khan.

(PTI inputs)