Rohit Sharma is unlikely to appear in any of the Australian formats. | Photo credit: AP
Key points
- Rohit Sharma’s hamstring injury has become a big topic of debate
- Rohit flew to Mumbai from the United Arab Emirates while other players boarded the flight directly to Australia after the 2020 IPL
- It is reported that Rohit decided to see his father in Mumbai who had contracted COVID-19
In recent weeks, a lot has been said and written about the physical form of the vice captain of the Indian cricket team, Rohit Sharma. After leading the Mumbai Indians (MI) to a record fifth Indian Premier League (IPL) title in the United Arab Emirates, Rohit returned home and then went to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) to work on his physical state. Rohit had suffered a hamstring injury during the 2020 IPL.
However, things got a bit tricky as Rohit has yet to make a full recovery from the hamstring injury. The senior starting batsman was ruled out of the first two trials and given Australia’s mandatory 14-day quarantine rule, it is unlikely that he will be able to appear in the remaining two trials. Questions have been raised by many as to why Rohit did not travel directly to Australia with the rest of the team, which would have allowed him to participate in the four-game test series after his recovery.
As reported by renowned sports journalist Boria Majumdar, Rohit returned to Mumbai from the United Arab Emirates to see his father, who had contracted COVID-19.
“Rohit came to Mumbai with the Mumbai Indians because her father had Covid. That is the reality and that is why he had to return to Bombay. After that, if he didn’t want to play the red ball series, he had no reason to travel to the NCA and could easily have stayed in Bombay with Ritika and her family and enjoyed the fruits of success. So there is absolutely no reason to say that Rohit did not want to play the red ball series, ”Boria said in a video.
As reported by PTI, a source said that the quarantine rule in Australia would make it extremely difficult for Rohit, as well as the Indian pacemaker Ishant Sharma, to appear in the Down Under test series.
“Even if they travel now they will have ‘hard quarantine’ as they will be traveling on commercial flight. Hard quarantine means not being able to train for the 14 days like the entire team,” said the source.
“So now if only Cricket Australia can convince the government and allow them to train during the quarantine,” he added.
Rohit had already been ruled out of the ODI as well as the T20I series against Australia. However, there were hopes that he might arrive in time for the series of tests.
It was also reported that the BCCI requested Cricket Australia (CA) to relax the quarantine rule for both Rohit and Ishant to appear in the second half of the test series.
