The bout of dengue that caused Shubman Gill to miss the start of India's World Cup campaign played a part in his retiring hurt during the semi-final against New Zealand in Mumbai on Wednesday.
Gill was batting on 79 when he went off the field in the 23rd over of India's innings; he returned to bat in the final over, after the fall of the fourth wicket, and fielded during New Zealand's innings. He has since confirmed that he is fit to play the World Cup final in Ahmedabad on November 19.
"It started with cramps and then I pulled my hamstring a little bit," Gill said at his post-match press conference. "It was quite humid and just the after-effects of dengue."
Gill returned to India's side after missing their first two league games, and has played all eight of their matches since. While he suggested that it has not had any major impact on his game, Gill said dengue had left him with reduced muscle mass.
"I have honestly not really adjusted anything in terms of my batting but because I have lost a bit of muscle mass, I think the reserve that I used to have before the dengue has decreased a little bit […] You do get cramps when you're playing in humid conditions, but for me [it] happens after a long period of time, not so soon," he elaborated. "But because I think I've lost a bit of muscle mass; the reserve has gone down a bit."
India's total of 397 for 4 included centuries from Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer; while cramps prevented Gill from having the opportunity to score one himself, he was pleased to have contributed positively to the semi-final victory.
"If I didn't get cramp, maybe I would have scored a hundred," Gill, who scored an unbeaten 80 in 66 balls, said. "But I think the total we were trying to reach, irrespective of whether I scored a hundred or not, we reached there. We had a hope of scoring around 400, we had expectations that by the 25th-30th over we should have scored these many runs, and we did that, so it didn't matter whether I made a century or not."
Kohli's 117 was his 50th century in ODIs - the innings moved him past Sachin Tendulkar's longstanding record tally of 49. Asked about the experience of having played alongside Kohli, Gill singled out his senior's hunger for success as his most inspiring quality.
"You know, every time he comes on to the park, he does something special and just how consistently he's been able to do it for the past 10-15 years is what is really inspiring," he said. "And I think, for me, it's not so much about the skill that he has, but it's more about the hunger when he goes there and the intensity with which he plays the game is what inspires me. And to be able to have that consistently for as long as he's been doing it is what really inspires me."