India captain Shubman Gill has issued a call for improved fitness standards within the national squad following a 2-1 ODI series defeat to England, noting that recurring injury issues severely disrupted the team's balance. Gill expressed frustration that players were unable to sustain their availability throughout the three-match series, pointing out that the team's composition was constantly forced to change due to unexpected physical setbacks. The injury list for the tour was extensive. All-rounder Hardik Pandya suffered a quadriceps strain while rehabbing a back injury at the BCCI's Centre of Excellence, while his designated backup, Nitish Kumar Reddy, was sidelined by a similar quadriceps issue. Additionally, Harshit Rana and Washington Sundar sustained hamstring injuries at different intervals of the trip. The situation reached a critical point before the series decider at Lord's, when Jasprit Bumrah was ruled out due to an impact injury on his left knee sustained during the second game in Cardiff. His absence left the team's less experienced seamers struggling to control the run rate, allowing England to post a total of 387.
Gill noted that of the initial squad announced, at least five players were unavailable for the final match. He emphasized the difficulty of managing a team when players report niggles on the morning of a game, forcing the management to choose between playing someone who is only 80 percent fit or risking the balance of the bowling attack. The captain himself was not immune to these issues, having retired hurt with cramps while batting on 80 in the first ODI in Birmingham, a condition that resurfaced at Lord's before he was dismissed for 77. Gill stated, "If you look at the first squad that we announced, at least five of the players did not play today. When one player gets injured, you have to play a different combination. If two are injured, you play a different combination. I think if a player is missing after every match (due to injury), somewhere we are missing a trick. Keeping the World Cup in mind, we have to play eleven matches in a row. And here the players are unable to finish a series of two or three matches. So something is missing somewhere."
Regarding the exclusion of Kuldeep Yadav, Gill explained that the decision was based on match conditions rather than fitness, noting that the wicket favored fast bowlers over spinners. "Whenever spinners came on to bowl, we felt like we kind of had to go into a defensive route. Whenever the fast bowlers were bowling, it felt like something was happening," Gill said. "Maybe in hindsight, looking at the wicket it got a bit slower. When we were bowling and when Axar Patel bhai was bowling it didn't look like the wicket will get slower, but when they came into bowl, it did look like the wicket got a tad bit slower as the game went on."
Summing up the series, Gill reckoned that India had a "pretty decent series," but felt they needed to be smarter in assessing conditions. "Both the matches that we have lost, we were in the game for the majority of the game. And I think it's all about how long we can stay consistently in the game. It almost feels like we are in the game for about 80 per cent of the game." Addressing speculation regarding Rohit Sharma’s future, Gill confirmed that no discussions have taken place, dismissing the rumors as media speculation and praising Rohit’s 138-run innings. "He's not told us anything. I think it's all out in the media. But there has not been any discussion like that," Gill said. "Most of the time I was at the non-striker's end watching. Our conversation was mostly that if we keep wickets in hand, only then we would have a chance of chasing a big score like that. We were discussing whether to hit out in the Powerplay or not but hitting the new ball wasn't easy. And I think the way he paced his innings and accelerated when he got to 60 or 70 was great to see."
