Gautam Gambhir May Miss West Indies Series To Shoulder Injury

The captain of the Indian side for their tour of the West Indies, Gautam Gambhir may have to give the series a miss after it was revealed that he had aggravated a shoulder injury that he had carried into the IPL this season.

While the miss will be bad enough, there critics are up in arms over the alleged hiding of the Gambhir injury in order for him to be able to play in the Indian Premier League, a club-based cricket tournament. It was revealed by the Kolkata Knight Riders physiotherapist in his missive to the BCCI that Gambhir had sustained this injury in the final of the World Cup 2011, played on April 2 and entered the IPL complaining about the soreness of his shoulder.

Gambhir had continued to play through all the games of the IPL before aggravating the injury while fielding during Kolkata’s game against the Mumbai Indians in the league stage. Kolkata played one game after that, against Mumbai Indians again, and Gambhir decided to risk the shoulder issue, going against the advice of a specialist.

The critics have panned this decision, citing the player’s preference to play through the IPL and not rest the injured shoulder instead, to be fit for the international commitments. Gambhir was the captain of the Kolkata Knight Riders and has rubbished these claims, saying that he did not realize the extent of the injury till before the first game against the Mumbai Indians.

The Indian selectors meet today to select the Test match team and there is a good chance that Gambhir may miss the selection. If found injured, Gambhir may miss about five weeks of cricket.