Why are Mayank Agarwal and Shubman Gill not fielding on Day 3 of India vs New Zealand Test?

Team India batters Mayank Agarwal and Shubman Gill will not be fielding on Day 3 of the Mumbai Test versus New Zealand. Both cricketers are battling injury issues and have been advised rest.

India declared their second innings on 276 for 7 on Sunday, setting New Zealand an improbable target of 540. Agarwal, who scored a brilliant 150 in the first innings, contributed a fluent 62 in his second.

As for Gill, he fell in the 40s for the second time in the Test. Cheteshwar Pujara contributed 47, while Virat Kohli made 36 and Axar Patel a quickfire 41* (off 26 balls).

Sharing updates on Agarwal and Gill’s injury status, a tweet by BCCI informed:

On Sunday, Agarwal was struck on the forearm by a short ball from Tim Southee that did not bounce a lot. He took some treatment and carried on batting but looked in some discomfort until his dismissal.

Gill was off the field on Saturday as well after injuring his finger while fielding. As a result, Pujara opened the batting ahead of him. Gill came out to bat after number three, after Agarwal’s dismissal. Agarwal and Pujara got India off to a great start in the second innings, adding 107 for the opening wicket.

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Sachin Tendulkar praises Mayank Agarwal, Shubman Gill

Both Agarwal and Gill came in for praise from the legendary Sachin Tendulkar for their impressive performances.

Speaking about Agarwal’s innings, Tendulkar told PTI on Saturday that he was able to punish good deliveries too. The Master Blaster commented:

"There was moisture beneath the surface. Mayank took some time to get into the groove and once he was in the groove, he capitalised by putting pressure on spinners. When a bowler knows a batter can punish your good deliveries, then there is an element of doubt in him. What if the batter steps out and hits you and all those things go in bowler's head and disturb his rhythm."

Describing Gill as a promising batter, Tendulkar urged him to convert his starts into bigger scores. The former India captain said:

"Shubman has started well and shown a lot of promise. The way he builds his innings, he has been good so far. Just that he needs to go further and convert those 40s into big scores. Once you get into that squad, it is about how hungry you are for bigger scores which I am sure he is.”

Meanwhile, Ravichandran Ashwin claimed three wickets as New Zealand stumbled to 67 for 3 after 20 overs in their second innings.