Gambhir likely to miss Windies tour with sore shoulder

MUMBAI: Gautam Gambhir has
been advised rest for six weeks
to nurse his "sore shoulder" and
is likely to miss the West Indies
tour starting June 4. Suresh
Raina will be leading the team in
the one-day international series
in Gambhir's absence.
Gambhir, the Kolkata Knight
Riders captain, was carrying a
shoulder injury right through out
the Indian Premier League (IPL)
and on Wednesday looked in
pain while playing against
Mumbai Indians in the eliminator
at the Wankhede Stadium. He had
injured his shoulder during the
final of the World Cup against Sri
Lanka in April.
Knight Riders' team physio
Andrew Leipus, in a letter to the
Board of Control for Cricket in
India (BCCI), said that Gambhir
needs at least four-six weeks of
rest and also asked the board's
medical committee to look into
the player's injury management.
"The clinical findings supported
the mechanism of the onset of
the acute injury, however, he did
report having corticosteroid
injections on two occasions over
the previous few years. In the
last match where KKR played MI,
Gautam again felt an aggravation
of the shoulder pain on one
particular throw," Leipus said in
his letter.
"On arrival in Mumbai we
thought it was prudent to get
both an MRI and a consultation
with a leading shoulder
orthopaedic surgeon. Both the
doctor and myself believe that he
should follow an intensive,
supervised and conservative
rehabilitation pathway. But for
the best outcome, he will need to
avoid both throwing and batting
for a period of 4-6 weeks," the
letter said.
"In this regard, I would expect
that the BCCI medical committee
would need to consider the
ongoing management of
Gautam's shoulder injury beyond
the IPL and the possibility of his
missing any immediate future
tours until the shoulder is fully
rehabilitated," the letter added.
Gambhir was appointed skipper
for the West Indies tour in the
absence of Mahendra Singh
Dhoni, who was advised rest