Shubman Gill

Believe it or not, sometimes a single mosquito can change the fate not only of an individual but that of an entire nation.

- GP CAPT ACHCHYUT KUMAR

Cricket buffs will be quick to understand what I want to drive home. Yes, India’s current ace batter, Shubman Gill, was not available for India’s inaugural match against Australia in this year’s One Day International World Cup played at Chennai, and all because of suffering from fever due to dengue, an ailment caused by an infected mosquito bite that leads to a drop in the blood platelets in the human body.

It will not be prudent to delve into further details of the dangers of the disease as this is not a medical write-up. Still, it would be sufficient to say that this year several deaths in the country have occurred due to this disease of dengue, such can be the most disastrous effects of this problem. Shubman Gill’s absence has not only depleted the strength of India’s batting but has also brought a rude interruption to the career of an individual who is currently at the prime of his career. To justify the latter statement, one has only to state that during this calendar year, with 1231 runs, Shubman to date has been the highest accumulator of runs in ODIs.