India captain Shubman Gill has emphasised that maintaining fitness will be key for the players hoping to remain among the favourites for the 2027 ODI World Cup. Gill's remarks come after India's defeat to England in the third and final ODI at Lord's, where the side was unable to field their strongest possible playing XI due to injury setbacks. Gill highlighted that recurring injuries have become a major concern and could disrupt the team's plans in the lead-up to the World Cup.
"If you look at the first squad we had announced, from that a minimum of five players did not play this match. If one player is injured, then you look to field another combination; if two players are injured, you look for another combination, but if after every match some player is missing, then somewhere we are missing some trick," Gill said at the press conference.
In the final ODI, India could not utilise the services of first-choice players, with pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah being unavailable after suffering an impact-related injury during the Cardiff match. All-rounder Washington Sundar also missed out because of a hamstring problem. Fast bowler Harshit Rana had been ruled out earlier with a hamstring injury picked during the T20I leg of the England tour.
"If you keep the World Cup in mind, where we have to play 11 matches on the bounce, here we have players not being able to finish a two-to-three-match series. So there is some discrepancy where our players are not being able to play regularly; they play one or two matches, they suffer a niggle, and then we are forced to play a different combination that we originally did not plan to play."
"So looking at all those things it becomes a little difficult that you come to the ground and you come to know a player has a niggle, then it's almost like, do you want to take a chance? Some player is 80% fit; you are playing with five bowlers, and if this player comes out after bowling five overs, then who will bowl? So these things keep coming to mind. This is difficult. But as a group, I don't know, our fitness, we need to improve all those things."