While the five-match Test series between England and India is still more than a month away, the visitors have suffered a big blow as their young opener Shubman Gill is likely to be ruled out of the opening Test in Nottingham, starting August 4.

Gill is understood to have been injured and considering the gravity of the injury, the 21-year-old might even get ruled out of the entire series.

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Shubman Gill was one of the stars for India in their Border-Gavaskar Trophy triumph Down Under earlier this year. He may have endured failures in the home Test series against England and the WTC final versus New Zealand, but the right-hander looked set to feature in the Trent Bridge Test.

However, a report published in Cricbuzz suggests that the opening batsman is carrying a serious internal injury that will keep him out of immediate action.

The exact nature of the injury is still not known but it is expected to keep him away from the game for a considerable period of time.

Meanwhile, Shubman Gill will continue to remain with the Indian team as the management is hopeful of bringing him back into the mix sometime during the lengthy series, culmination on August 4.

Team India shouldn’t be too concerned about the opening options. They are travelling with an oversized squad and the natural openers in Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul will be readily available to open alongside Rohit Sharma.

Indian cricketers are currently enjoying a 20-day break from the bubble life after the ICC World Test Championship final against New Zealand, which they lost by 8 wickets.

When the break ends, the entire squad will assemble in London on July 14, before travelling to Nottingham to start their preparations for the England series.

(Inputs from Cricbuzz)