Gautam Gambhir’s Fitness in Question Once More Over Blurred Vision, Nausea

There is a perilous situation going on in England at the moment and the Indian selectors appear as befuddled as the Indian cricket team in England because on the one hand, there is news of a player being fit only for the news to be nullified by following reports. Case in point after Zaheer Khan: Gautam Gambhir.

Gautam Gambhir

There was a lot of pull and push with regard to Zaheer Khan, the nature of his injury since he broke down that first morning of the first Test at Lord’s. Conflicting reports released to the media suggested that Zaheer had suffered a hamstring strain but would bowl in the second innings of the Test. That never materialized and neither did his return thereafter to the remaining three Tests of the series that India lost by a 4-0 margin to lose the no.1 Test rank.

Such was the degree with which Zaheer Khan’s injury shrouded in mystery that the Indian selectors even announced his name in India’s ODI squad for England even though it was confirmed shortly thereafter that Zaheer Khan could play no further part in England or anywhere else for a long while with not only a hamstring injury but also an ankle for which he underwent surgery not long thereafter.

Now just when it is emerging that even Virender Sehwag had not fully recovered from his shoulder injury and yet played the final two Tests of the series but has to go back to recuperation, it would seem his opening partner is not doing so well. There is much confusion once more with Gautam Gambhir declared fit one day and then speculated as being unsure for the forthcoming ODI series.

Gambhir had pulled out of the India tour of the West Indies with a shoulder injury that he apparently sustained between the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and the IPL 4 season and thereafter injuries have continued to trouble the opening batsman. The latest injury he suffered on the tour of England came in the fourth Test at the Oval when he banged the back of his head on the field as he attempted to take a catch off Kevin Pietersen. While Pietersen escaped, Gambhir had injury added to insult and ignominy of failing to take the catch.

The batting order was shuffled once more, only Rahul Dravid was not bothered as he went onto score his third Test century of the series. Gambhir had apparently suffered a mild concussion and could not quite take his place in the batting order thereafter.

As the focus shifted to the forthcoming ODI series, while England are looking at switching formats, the Indian team is counting injuries once more with Harbhajan Singh and Yuvraj Singh also missing out through injuries to make Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s job even harder. The Indian captain has been under intense scrutiny following India’s 4-0 loss in the Test series and it would not behove the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 to lose the ODI series.

However, Gambhir is still an uncertainty at this point because he is reportedly suffering nausea upon trying to train for the series and has not featured in the tour match. Furthermore, there is a serious problem with his vision because at the moment, everything is a blur for Gambhir and establishing focus is being a problem.

Gambhir's name has also been put on the list on the Kolkata Knight Riders' squad for the Champions League Twenty20 2011 although it is unclear what Gambhir will do given the brouhaha of his playing through injury during the IPL 4 end stages while missing the tour of the West Indies.