ADELAIDE, Feb 18: Australian coach Tim Nielsen said on Monday that star wicket-keeper/batsman Adam Gilchrist was not in doubt for the remainder of the tri-series, despite injuring his left thumb against India on Sunday.

Gilchrist will retire from international cricket at the completion of the one-day tournament and appeared to suffer a nasty injury when standing up to Australian quick Stuart Clark during his side’s 50-run win over India.

Gilchrist was clearly concerned with the hand for the rest of the innings and it seemed his ‘farewell tour’, as it has been dubbed, might come to a premature end.

Nielsen, himself a former first-class wicketkeeper, admitted the thumb had suffered a bad blow, but said there was little danger Gilchrist would miss the rest of the series.

“I spoke to the physio this morning, it was a bit sore last night and we’ll wait to see how he pulls up,” Nielsen said.

“It was pleasing to see afterwards he was able to catch OK... He got hit right on the ‘drumstick’ when it happened which can be a bit fleshy and get a bit bruised.

“Keepers are a pretty tough breed as well so he’ll be right, hopefully over the next couple of days he’ll have an X-ray that shows there’s no fracture.

“You’d be a brave man to tell him he’s not playing the rest of the series, so until we know more about it, unless it’s pretty much chopped off, he’ll be right.”

Gilchrist has returned to his home town of Perth, with the Australian players having been given a few days off.

Team physiotherapist Alex Kountouris also said he didn’t have any major concerns about the wicket-keeper.

“Adam did receive a knock on the hand while wicket-keeping last night and while it was quite sore at the time he is expected to be fully fit to take part in Friday’s tri-series match against India,” Kountouris said.

“No medical investigation has been undertaken and at this stage there is no plan to do so over the course of the week.”—AFP