Team India head coach Ravi Shastri has said that injured duo should be on flight in next 3-4 days to be in time for Test matches against Australia
It seems the ambiguity around Rohit Sharma's injury is not going to end soon. Four days after Rohit Sharma began his fitness training at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru, Team India head coach Ravi Shastri talking to ABC sport said that it will get difficult for both Rohit and Ishant Sharma to feature in the test series if their recoveries take time.
"He's going through some tests at the NCA and they're obviously going to decide [for] how long he needs to take a break. But things could get difficult if he's asked to wait for too long, [because] then you're talking of the quarantine again, which might make it really tough for even him to come just in time for the Test series," said Shastri.
While Ishant sharma had started bowling after recovering from his oblique muscle tear under the watchful eyes of Paras Mhambre and Rahul Dravid. The questions still remain on Rohit's fitness even after him playing well in the last three games for Mumbai Indians, and was moving and running well as he scored a match-winning 68 in the IPL final.
"He was never going to play the white-ball series, they were just looking to see how long he needed the rest, because you can't afford to be resting for too long. If you need to play in the Test series or any red-ball cricket, you've got to be on the flight in the next three or four days. If you aren't, then it's going to be tough," Shastri said to ABC Sport.
Considering the mandatory 14-day quarantine period regulations in Australia, the duo should be on a plane to Australia by the next week or so as the test series starts on December 17 with a day-night test in Adelaide.
So, here's a look at the timeline of Rohit and Ishant Sharma's injuries and why the confusion still persists:
1. October 18 - Rohit suffered hamstring injury against Kings XI Punjab
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In probably the game of the recently concluded IPL, which went to the two super overs to decide the winner, Rohit Sharma suffered an injury in his hamstring in the wee hours of the game. Rohit didn't take the field in the second super over as Kieron Pollard marshalled the troops for Mumbai Indians.
Subsequently, he didn't feature in Mumbai's next four games. While, Ishant Sharma was ruled out of the tournament due to a left oblique muscle tear and was sent to NCA to recover fully before the upcoming test series against Australia.
2. October 26 - Both Rohit and Ishant left out of India Squads, to be monitored
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While there was no new update about Sharma's injury from the MI camp, the selectors shocked everyone and left both Rohit and Ishant out of the squads announced for the Australia tour.
The selection committee informed that both would be monitored and accordingly will be added into the squad after recovering to full fitness.
Howerver, the thing that puzzled everyone was if he wasn't that fit to be even announced in the squad must have meant that his IPL was over. And, as happened that wasn't the case, so the confusion lurked around for a longer period than expected.
3. November 3 - The comeback and more confusion
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After missing four games, Rohit came back into the Mumbai Indians line-up in their last league game against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH).
When he was asked if everything was fine, Rohit replied saying, "Looks like that." However, his statement contradicted a couple of statements made prior to the game, one by the head coach Ravi Shastri and one by the BCCI President Sourav Ganguly.
On November 1, the head coach said that Rohit needed to be careful as he was in danger of injuring himself again. A couple of days later, Ganguly said that Rohit was still injured and would come back into the side if he proves his fitness. But, the same day Rohit came back leading the MI outfit and said he was absolutely fine.
So, the confusion was only rising.
4. November 11 - Team India announced updated Squads, Rohit was added only to the Test Squad and not for ODIs and T20Is
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On the next day of IPL final, India announced updated squads for the Australia tour and Rohit was finally named, albeit only for the test matches.
The BCCI selection committee said that selecting him just for the tests will give him time to fully recover and be ready for the challenge of playing with the red and pink balls on Australian tracks.
Now, the confusion was regarding the extent of Rohit's injury. As, just a few hours ago he had scored a match-winning 68 (51) against the Delhi Capitals to win an IPL title for the fifth time for his side. And, now he wasn't fit for the limited overs series that was going to start 16 days later.
Ishant Sharma was still not named in the squad as he was recovering at the NCA and his selection remained subject to fitness.
5. November 18 - 'Hamstring is fine, I needed to be absolutely clear in my mind, that's why I'm at NCA': Rohit
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Another controversy erupted when after being named in the squad, Rohit was not on the flight to Australia with the whole team.
A night after the IPL final, the whole team clicked a photo before their departure to Australia. Also, present in the photo was wicket-keeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha who apparently had suffered a hamstring tear and didn't play the last two games in the IPL for his side SRH.
So, the questions started rising that if Saha was travelling with the team and was going to recover with the Indian physio, why was Sharma sent back to India to recover at NCA?
However, amid the lack of clarity, Rohit after beginning his fitness training at NCA on November 18, said that his hamstring was fine but he needed to be absolutely clear in his mind so that no stone is left unturned before he plays the longer format.
