In the latest development, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has asked Shubman Gill to return home as the young opener sustained a shin injury during the ongoing England tour.

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According to a Cricbuzz report, there is no immediate plan to send a replacement for Gill and his unavailability has left the team in a tricky situation.

Notably, Indian team is travelling with an oversized squad and the natural openers in Mayank Agarwal, KL Rahul and Abhimanyu Easwaran (standby player) are readily available for the five-Test series against England, starting August 4.

However, Rahul is being seen as a middle-order option, which leaves only Agarwal and unproven Easwaran to partner Rohit Sharma.

In case, any of the available openers get injured or contract COVID-19 then the visitors could face real trouble during the lengthy tour, culminating on September 14.

The report also suggests that the Indian team management has not asked for a specific player in its mail and only sought a replacement for Gill.

"They have left it to the selectors to name a replacement, be it Prithvi Shaw or Devdutt Padikkal or whoever," Cricbuzz quoted an official tracking the developments.

Shaw and Padikkal are currently with the national team on the white-ball tour to Sri Lanka. If either of them needs to be available from the first match of the five-Test series, he will have to serve 10-day quarantine upon landing in UK. The BCCI, thus, needs to make a decision quickly.

(Inputs from Cricbuzz)