India will give Shubman Gill every chance to prove his fitness to start the opening test against Australia at Perth Stadium with the batsman showing improvement after fracturing his left thumb, bowling coach Morne Morkel said on Wednesday.

Shubman Gill is improving and there is a slim chance of him playing the first Test against Australia in Perth, said India bowling coach Morne Morkel.

There were initial reports suggesting that the right-handed batsman would be ruled out of the series opener against Australia.

In a setback for India’s Test team, a thumb fracture has ruled out top-order batsman Shubman Gill from the first Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy which begins in Perth from next Friday. Gill fractured his thumb when he was fielding during a match simulation session in Perth on Saturday.

A bitter blow has emerged out of the Indians’ secret training session ahead of the first Test against Australia.

Shubman Gill suffered an injury blow during the match simulation in Perth and got hit on his thumb. There were reports that Shubman was ruled out of the series opener but it has not been confirmed by the BCCI.

India won the toss and elected to bat first against Australia at Perth Stadium on Friday in the opener of their highly-anticipated five-test series. India begin the defence of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy without captain Rohit Sharma,