The curious case of Rohit Sharma’s fitness continues to perplex Indian cricket a day after the national selectors decided not to include him in the squads for next month’s tour of Australia.
While the Board’s media release merely stated that its medical team would “continue to monitor the progress of Rohit and Ishant Sharma”, the extent of their injuries were not mentioned. To add more embarrassment to the Board, Mumbai Indians tweeted pictures of Rohit’s net session in Abu Dhabi a couple of hours after the squad announcement and followed it up with a video of him “in full flow”.
The question obviously doing the rounds is if he was fit enough to bat at nets for Mumbai Indians, why was he not considered for the national team? Has the franchise concealed anything when informing the Board about Rohit’s injury status?
Questions to the Mumbai Indians management evoked no response but sources told The Telegraph that the Sunil Joshi-headed selection committee was made to understand that Rohit’s “left hamstring strain” would take time to heal. Accordingly, they decided not to consider him for the tour pending his regaining fitness.
“The selectors are still awaiting clarity and an update from the Mumbai Indians team management. If Rohit is fit to bat at nets, then there’s been a communication gap between the franchise and the Board.
“Moreover, you have got to understand that franchise cricket and playing for the country are two entirely different things. You can play in the IPL with an injury and score runs. But in international cricket you will be exposed if you are not fit,” Board sources told The Telegraph.
There has also been talk that the Mumbai Indians social media group posted pictures of Rohit’s practice with his consent. In that case was the Mumbai Indians captain trying to send a strong message across to the other franchises on his fitness? Is there more to it than meets the eye?
While Rohit has even been kept out of the Test series which begins on December 17, Mayank Agarwal has found berths in the Test and T20I squads despite missing KXIP’s last two matches due to injuries.
That Rohit will be available for the playoffs is almost a given now. But he could also risk aggravating his injury unless the Board steps in and prevents such a move. Will the Sourav Ganguly-headed Board take such drastic measures in the interest of the country?
More surprisingly, the selection committee named KL Rahul as the vice-captain in the limited overs format when they were aware that Rohit could return at some stage of the tour.
The argument in favour of the selectors has been that they had to announce a vice-captain as has been the norm for overseas tours. But what happens if Rohit is fit enough to make himself available for the limited overs leg?
“Let’s see when he can join... But it will be difficult to switch the vice-captaincy since it has already been made public. It will be a Catch-22 situation,” a Board member admitted.
The air of uncertainty over Rohit’s fitness even prompted Sunil Gavaskar to call for “transparency and openness”.
“(Knowing) what actually is the problem with him will help everybody. And if he is practising in the nets for Mumbai Indians, then honestly I don’t know what kind of injury it is,” Gavaskar told Star Sports.
“A bit of transparency and openness about what kind of injury he has will help everybody, because the Indian cricket fans deserve to know,” he said. “I understand the franchises don’t want to give their hand away because they want to win the game and don’t want the opposition to gain any psychological advantage (but) we are talking about the Indian team.”
This is the second time this year that Rohit has injured his left leg. He was forced to return home from New Zealand in February after tearing his left calf muscle during the T20I series.
It obviously raises questions about the Board’s injury management and the role of physio Nitin Patel. Were the players not properly monitored during the lockdown? Why has there been a recurrence of injuries? The physio needs to come clean on a lot of issues.
