Gill is coming off an uber-successful Test tour of England, where the captain led from the front, scoring 754 runs including three centuries and a double hundred and lifting India to an inspiring 2-2 draw in the first-ever Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy. From England, Gill headed to Greece straightaway from a small vacation, but just when it seemed he was all set to return to domestic cricket, fate had other plans. The illness, however, is not serious, but just not mild enough to let him play cricket. In October of 2023, Gill had picked up a bout of Dengue fever during the ODI World Cup, thus missing India’s first two matches against Australia in Chennai and Afghanistan in Delhi.

RevSportz claims that Gill is down with viral fever and while it is nothing to be afraid of, the blood test taken earlier this week in Mumbai was a precautionary measure. Gill himself is still keen on playing, but with only a few days left for the start of the tournament, he may just miss the bus. Shame, because not only would Gill have captained a team comprising Arshdeep Singh, Harshit Rana and Anshul Kamboj among others, he would have set the perfect precent of prioritising domestic cricket, something the BCCI has gone big on since earlier this year.

What Shubman Gill’s Asia Cup chances look like

Gill was unlikely to feature in the entirety of the tournament, though. With the team leaving for the UAE to play the Asia Cup 2025, and their first training session lined up for September 5, Gill, at most, could have played the opener against East Zone. The bigger picture, however, is whether Gill can recover in time for the Asia Cup. A part of BCCI’s move to rest Gill stems from the same concern: to get him up and ready for the Asia Cup, and at the moment, the chances of him regaining fitness look bright. The recently-appointed vice-captain of the Indian T20I team made his comeback into the set-up when India’s squad of 15 was announced by the BCCI chairman of selectors, Ajit Agarkar.

Multiple reports have claimed that Gill is the likely successor to Rohit Sharma as India’s ODI captain when the time comes. With India slowly and steadily heading towards an all-format captain, Gill is the best they have. He showed tremendous maturity in his batting, and while he was round around the edge as far as captaincy goes – and expectedly so – Gill is being touted as the next quintessential leader of the Indian cricket team. India’s T20I captain Suryakumar Yadav is 34, and ODI skipper Rohit, 38. It’s only a matter of time before Gill takes over the mantle and ushers Indian cricket into the next era.