ODI World Cup 2023: India batter Shubman Gill down with fever, may miss Australia match

Shubman Gill may not play India's opening game of ODI World Cup 2023 against Australia on October 8 in Chennai as he's down with fever. The news was confirmed by a Board of Control for Cricket India (BCCI) official to the news agency Press Trust for India (PTI) on the condition of anonymity.

"Shubman has had a high fever since landing in Chennai. His tests are being done. He will have tests on Friday and a call will be taken on his participation in the opening game," a BCCI source in the know of team developments told PTI.

It is being speculated that the batter is suffering from Dengue fever - a viral going around the country currently. The BCCI source, however, said that nothing is certain as of now and it could be normal viral fever as well.

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"Let's not jump the gun. If it's normal viral fever, he could play on antibiotics but it's completely the medical team's call," the source added.

Shubman, who bats up the order, is a vital clog in India's batting wheel. The batsman has been in prime form this year, scoring five hundreds in ODIs - the most in this year - while notching up more than 1,200 runs.

He is also the highest run-getter for India in ODIs since the 2019 ODI World Cup - 1,901. He's just behind Pakistan skipper Babar Azam (2,196 runs) on the list of batters with the most runs for each team since the 2019 edition.

In case Shubman doesn't get well in time to play the opening game, Ishan Kishan could open the innings for India with skipper Rohit Sharma.

Talking about India's preparations, the hosts were unlucky as both their warm-up games, against England and Netherlands, were washed out. The Men In Blue, however, remain confident with the ODI series win against Australia prior to warm-ups and the Asia Cup 2023 victory earlier this month.