India opener batsman Shubman Gill has been reportedly ruled out of the upcoming five-Test match series against England, beginning August 4 due to a stress fracture in his shin and now it has come to light that he might be out for two months.

A BCCI source confirmed to PTI that it is all but certain that Gill is unlikely to feature in the upcoming five-Test series against England starting in Nottingham from August 4.

"Shubman has sustained a shin stress fracture, which will keep him out of action for a minimum of two months, which effectively rules him out of the first three Tests against England in August. It will be a race against time to get him fit for the final two Test matches in September after completing rehabilitation," the source said on conditions of anonymity.

It was also revealed that the shin injury got aggravated during the recently-concluded World Test Championship final against New Zealand in Southampton which India lost by 8 wickets.

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"Stress fractures in the shin are not very threatening but time-consuming in terms of rest and rehabilitation. If it would have been a shin fracture, then it could have taken more than three months but shin stress fracture injury normally takes anything between 8 to 10 weeks to heal,” a former India pacer told PTI.

Physio Nitin Patel and strength and conditioning coach Soham Desai will be monitoring Gill's progress in the UK.

“If Gill's replacement, whether it's Mayank (Agarwal) or (KL) Rahul, does well, he might have to sit out and I believe the team management also won't show a lot of desperation in getting him fit for say, the fifth Test," the bowler said.

Bengal's Abhimanyu Easwaran is one of the openers on stand-by. The Indian team is currently on a break and will regroup in mid-July for the England series.

(PTI inputs)