‘We need to improve our fitness’: Shubman Gill worries whether India stars can last the 2027 ODI World Cup without injuries originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
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Shubman Gill flags fitness concerns after injuries derail India’s England series.
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Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, among multiple players sidelined during tour.
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It is a cause of concern for the team management ahead of the 2027 World Cup.
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Shubman Gill questions if India’s stars can survive the grind of the 2027 ODI World Cup
India captain Shubman Gill has sounded the alarm on his squad’s fitness standards following a wave of injuries that plagued the side during their 2-1 ODI series loss to England, as he voiced concern that players couldn’t even survive a three-match rubber without breaking down.
India’s troubles with fitness started even before a ball was bowled in this series. All-rounder Hardik Pandya suffered a quadriceps strain at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence while still recovering from a back issue, forcing selectors to scramble.
His designated replacement, Nitish Kumar Reddy, then went down with a quadriceps injury of his own, while Harshit Rana and Washington Sundar both picked up hamstring problems at different points during the tour.
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The cruelest blow arrived right before the Lord’s decider, when Jasprit Bumrah was ruled unavailable due to an impact injury on his left knee, sustained during the Cardiff match. His absence proved costly, as India’s less experienced pace bowlers struggled to control the scoring rate, allowing England to post a mammoth 387.
Speaking after the Lord’s contest, Gill pointed out that at least five players from India’s originally announced squad didn’t even take the field in the decider.
“If you look at the first squad that we announced, at least five of the players did not play today,” Gill said after the Lord’s ODI.
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“When one player gets injured, you have to play a different combination. If two are injured, you play a different combination. I think if a player is missing after every match (due to injury), somewhere we are missing a trick.”
“Keeping the World Cup in mind, we have to play eleven matches in a row. And here the players are unable to finish a series of two or three matches. So something is missing somewhere.”
Gill described the difficulty of managing niggles mid-series, where a bowler operating at 80 per cent fitness could break down after just a handful of overs, leaving the team short-handed with no easy fix.
“If one morning you find out that a player has a niggle. And then it’s almost like, ‘do you want to take a chance?'” Gill said.
“Someone is 80 per cent fit, you’re playing with five bowlers and if he bowls five overs and goes off the field, then who will you bowl? It is difficult. But somewhere as a group, we need to improve our fitness.”
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Jasprit Bumrah
BCCI/Creimas
A series with positives, but lessons to learn
Interestingly, Gill himself wasn’t immune to physical struggles during the series, having retired hurt on 80 in the series opener at Birmingham due to cramping, an issue that resurfaced at Lord’s before he eventually fell for 77.
Reflecting on the series as a whole, Gill felt India had put in a fairly solid performance overall but acknowledged the need to read conditions more astutely, particularly pointing to the runs conceded with the new ball in the decider.
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“In both the matches that we have lost, we were in the game for the majority of the game,” Gill said. “And I think it’s all about how long we can stay consistently in the game. It almost feels like we are in the game for about 80 per cent of the game.”
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Fitness can’t be an afterthought anymore
Gill’s concern deserves far more attention than a passing quote. Under the ICC’s newly announced structure for the 2027 World Cup, most teams will need to survive 13 matches to reach the final, while one qualifying side will need 15.
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If India’s squad is already crumbling under the weight of a three-match bilateral series, complete with cramps, quad strains and hamstring pulls piling up one after another, the idea of navigating an entire World Cup campaign injury-free looks genuinely worrying. Bilateral cricket is supposed to be the easier proving ground before the real test arrives.
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If bodies are breaking down here, conditioning protocols clearly need urgent rethinking, not cosmetic tweaks. Talent alone won’t carry India through 13 matches; durability will decide who’s even available to compete when it matters most.
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