Gill puts fear into Australia, Ishan has...: Aaron Finch on India's potential setback before CWC '23 opener

On Friday (Oct6), Rohit Sharma-led India dealt with a major blow after reports confirmed that in-form opener Shubman Gill is down with dengue and very likely to miss India's CWC '23 opener, where they face Australia on Sunday (Oct 8) in Chennai. It is possible that Gill will also miss the following game, where India host Afghanistan in New Delhi on Wednesday (Oct 11). In this scenario, wicketkeeper-batter Ishan Kishan is set to replace Gill at the top and open with captain Rohit.

On India's big potential setback with no Gill for Australia clash, former Aussie captain Aaron Finch shared a brutal assessment. He shared that while India remain in a good stead even if they play without Gill, his absence will be surely felt due to the 'fear factor'.

He said while speaking to Star Sports, "What's going to stand out in this World Cup is the depth of these squads. Most teams are going with an idea what their ideal XI is but that doesn't always go to plan. There are injuries, fatigue as it's a long tournament. Still, India would be pretty comfortable. The difference will be the fear factor Shubman Gill puts into the Australian team."

'Australia will be a little more comfortable bowling to Ishan Kishan'

Lauding the 24-year-old Gill, Finch further opined, "He is someone who Australia at times really struggle to bowl to in any format because he has no weaknesses. He is somebody who can hit your best balls. He dominates spin, left-arm pacer, right-arm pace so I think that will be the only difference."

Finch feels Ishan, on the other hand, is slightly vulnerable at the start and has technical faults, which the Aussie pacers would like to exploit on Sunday.

In this regard, he added, "Australia will be a little more comfortable bowling to Ishan Kishan in the Powerplay. Starc and Hazelwood. I would go with that selection if I have to bowl to the left-hander. The outswing to Ishan because I still think he has a few technical faults he still hasn't quite ironed out over the last while. His front foot closes up quite a bit so if he can swing it early, they can get him. Once he gets in, he moves beautifully. But just those initial balls though, he tends to get vulnerable."

No official statement has come regarding Gill's unavailability for the Australia encounter, with head coach Rahul Dravid not ruling him out yet.

Sources within the team have disclosed to Cricbuzz that the right-hander showed symptoms of dengue while India were in Guwahati for the warm-up games.

At present, the severity of his illness is being assessed, however, team sources have suggested that he is not experiencing extreme weaknessor discomfort.

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