 "Gautam Gambhir flies back home: Will India coach return to England in time for first Test at Headingley?")
Team India head coach Gautam Gambhir returned home a little over a week before the five-Test series against England is to get underway at Headingley, Leeds, with no clear timeline on his return as yet. Gambhir was with the Shubman Gill-led Test team in Beckenham where a closed-door intra-squad game between India and India A was to get underway from Friday.
Gambhir, it has been learnt, has returned to New Delhi due to a family emergency, with his mother has been admitted to a hospital in the national capital after suffering a cardiac arrest. His mother, who is in her mid-sixties, is currently recovering from the medical emergency in an Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at New Delhi’s Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, according to Cricbuzz.
No fixed timeline on Gambhir’s return to England yet
Given the situation the former Member of Parliament with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) finds himself in, it is difficult to ascertain whether Gambhir – whose presence is crucial for team planning given Gill will be making his debut as India captain – will be flying to the United Kingdom in time for the series opener or not.
“Gambhir had to return to India because of a family emergency. He left for India on Wednesday. Our prayers are with his family,” a BCCI source was quoted by Hindustan Times as saying.
“As of now, his exact date of arrival in the UK is not certain and it all depends on his mother’s recovery. If everything goes well, he should be back for the first Test in Headingley,” the source added.
In the former India opener’s absence, assistant coach Ryan ten Doeschate is expected to oversee India’s training for the England Tests along with batting coach Sitanshu Kotak, bowling coach Morne Morkel and fielding coach T Dilip.
Gambhir had previously returned home from Australia ahead of the second of five-Tests in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Adelaide, having cited personal reasons back then.
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