3 changes India can consider for IND vs SA 2025 2nd Test with Shubman Gill ruled out ft. Sai Sudharsan 

Team India captain Shubman Gill will be unavailable for the second Test against South Africa due to a neck injury. The ace batter sustained the injury during the series opener in Kolkata, leading to him being released from the squad ahead of the must-win encounter in Guwahati.

The Men in Blue have a lot of questions to answer regarding Shubman Gill's replacement and the overall team combination. Their unorthodox playing XI for the first Test, which included four spinners, backfired, resulting in a shocking 30-run loss.

"Team India captain Shubman Gill, who suffered a neck injury during the first Test against South Africa, has been ruled out of the second Test in Guwahati. Rishabh Pant will lead the team in the 2nd Test in his absence," BCCI's official statement read.

On that note, let us take a look at three changes India can consider if Shubman Gill is ruled out of the IND vs SA 2025 2nd Test.

#1 Sai Sudharsan for Shubman Gill

Team India need to bolster their batting unit in Shubman Gill's absence, and common sense dictates that the next pure batter in line on the bench should make the cut in a straight swap. Sai Sudharsan has had to deal with inconsistency in terms of his selection despite making a decent start to his Test career, and found surprisingly on the sidelines for the series opener.

With Gill absent in the heart of the batting unit and the rest of the batters also not at their best self, India could use Sai Sudharsan's temperament and spin-playing ability to restore some stability. The southpaw is also in good touch, having scored his career high score of 87 in his previous appearance for India, not so long ago.

At the end of the day, it is all about runs, and where can India find more? The hosts missed Shubman Gill's contribution across both innings as they ended up losing by a slender margin of 30 runs. Given that India already have enough all-rounders in the setup, and Gill had a prime role as a better, Sai Sudharsan comes across as the ideal replacement.

#2 Nitish Kumar Reddy for Axar Patel

Apart from the forced change due to Shubman Gill's injury, India might have to rethink their overall combination as well, since the four-spinner ploy did not exactly set the stage on fire in the first Test. The presence of so many options means that one candidate is highly likely to be massively underbowled, and that was the case in the first Test as Washington Sundar bowled only one over.

Sundar's role at No.3, coupled with his promising recent outings, and his influence as an off-spinner, keeps him in the side. Given that Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav are integral to the spin department, they are indispensable. This leaves Axar Patel as the sole option that has to make way so that India can cut down on the left-handed options, and bring in the right-handed Nitish Kumar Reddy, largely as a pure batter option.

While he brings his seam bowling to the table as well, his bowling services might not be required with five full-fledged options, including two frontline pacers, already in the setup. However, his presence as a right-handed option works wonders for India as it helps them to maintain the left-right combination, and being rolled over by one particular spinner from one end.

Stand-in skipper Rishabh Pant already hinted at the inclusion of a right-handed player after acknowledging that India have too many left-handed batters in their current playing XI.

#3 Devdutt Padikkal for Axar Patel

The luxury India have slotting in Washington Sundar at No.3 is that they can afford to include another middle-order batter to stretch the batting depth without compromising on their bowling strength.

Assuming that India brings in a batter for the No.4 slot, they still have the option to bring in another batter at the expense of their sixth choice bowler, which is a largely unused one. That spot could better be used for an extra batter since run-scoring against spin has proven to be a serious problem in recent times.

If Devdutt Padikkal comes in for Axar Patel, he can take up the No.6 spot, which he was meant to do anyway before Jurel's surge and Nitish Kumar Reddy's infusion in home Tests. That leaves the in-form Dhruv Jurel and Ravindra Jadeja quite low in the batting order, but given India's shoddy batting in the subcontinent, they are going to need all the resources they can possibly get.

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Edited by Gokul Nair