In the near future, Shubman Gill will be leading the Indian team across formats. That has been made clear by the team management who expedited the Test exits of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli earlier this year, appointed Gill as the red-ball and ODI captain, and also placed the young batter into an already settled T20 team.

Quite a few of these moves look forced. When Kohli became the all-format leader of the Indian team, no one questioned the merit of the move as he was easily the best batter of not only the team but also among the very best across the world. Gill, on the other hand, does not have those credentials.

However, it must be stated he was part of the Champions Trophy and Asia Cup winning squads and has captained admirably in Tests so far, drawing the series 2-2 in England earlier in the year.

But there is another, possibly bigger, factor at play – impact on fitness.

Gill has been playing pretty much non-stop the entire year, starting with the Champions Trophy, then the IPL, followed by England Test series, the Asia Cup in the UAE, the West Indies home Tests, Australia limited-overs tour and now the South Africa home Tests.

Gill has been among the runs in all those outings, but the workload combined with leadership duties seem to be catching up.

During the ongoing first Test against South Africa in Kolkata, Gill had to retire hurt with a neck spasm. He had developed the issue during the match and walked off the pitch while batting during India's first innings.

He did not come out to bat even though India were struggling against the Proteas.