India coach Gambhir returns home from England for family emergency

LONDON (AP) — India coach Gautam Gambhir returned home on Friday because of a family emergency, a week out from the opening cricket test against England.

Gambhir’s mother was hospitalized in New Delhi, according to the Press Trust of India.

It was not known how long Gambhir will be away, and there was no certainty he will be on hand when India starts the first test against England at Leeds in a week.

In his absence, assistant coaches Sitanshu Kotak, Ryan ten Doeschate and Morne Morkel were taking charge of India for a four-day intra-squad match against India A that started on Friday in Beckenham.

Gambhir and new captain Shubman Gill were facing a number of selection decisions going into the five-match series with England after the retirements of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma opened spots in the batting order.

A call over the makeup of the bowling attack was also due, with one of Arshdeep Singh, Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna likely to miss out, alongside one of the two allrounders, Shardul Thakur and Nitish Reddy.

The tourists wore black armbands and observed a minute’s silence on the first morning of their intra-squad match, as a mark of respect for the victims of the Ahmedabad plane crash.