India's young opening batsman Shubman Gill is doubtful for the England Test series after sustaining a shin injury.

According to the media reports, Gill is likely to be flown back home with two shin splints and would sit out for around eight weeks, which means India will need to find a new opening partner for Rohit Sharma.

Team India are travelling with an oversized squad and the natural openers in Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul and Abhimanyu Easwaran (standby player) will be readily available to replace Gill.

Amid the development, former India cricketer-turned commentator Deep Dasgupta has opined that Agarwal should be the first choice as opener for the five-match Test series, starting August 4 at Trent Bridge.

"There are two straightforward options -- Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul. My vote goes for Mayank Agarwal because, yes, he did have two or three bad performances but overall, I think his Test career has been really impressive -- in India and especially overseas.

"For KL Rahul, see, he has opened or played in the top order throughout his life whether it's for Karnataka or India in red-ball or white-ball cricket," said Dasgupta in a video posted on his YouTube channel.

"But the way he (Rahul) has been playing white-ball cricket, his technique has changed a bit, he's become more attacking. His attacking technique has improved but his defensive technique... he hasn't paid that much attention to it. That's why I feel that KL Rahul, as far as red-ball cricket is concerned, is a very good middle-order option."

Former India cricketer Wasim Jaffer recently batted for Agarwal’s inclusion in the playing XI as well. The Karnataka right-hander averages 45.74 from 14 Tests with 3 hundreds and 4 half-centuries to his name.

"It will be a very big opportunity for Mayank Agarwal and KL Rahul with Mayank being my first preference. He has had an excellent career so far. He was dropped after two poor outings in Australia but I am sure he will be looking forward to this opportunity," Jaffer had said.