CHENNAI: Captain Virat Kohli said India have been made to play the “waiting game” ahead of the Australia series, thanks to the lack of clarity surrounding Rohit Sharma's injury status. Calling it a very confusing situation, Kohli said had Rohit and Ishant Sharma been in Sydney like Wriddhiman Saha, who is undergoing rehabilitation under the team's watch, they could have been fit and available for the Test series.
India face Australia in the first ODI on Friday in Sydney and they will be without opener Rohit, who is undergoing rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru after playing the IPL with an injured hamstring. The communication from the BCCI has been very confusing on the entire episode, with president Sourav Ganguly and Rohit himself offering different versions.
Kohli revealed that two days before the selection committee meeting to pick the squads for the Australia tour, he received an email, which said Rohit had suffered an injury and needed two week of rest. However, Rohit trained on the same day the squad was announced and turned out for Mumbai Indians a week after being ruled out of the entire tour, much to the surprise of everyone.
And it appears Kohli is among those who is equally surprised. “The pros and cons of the injury were explained to him and he understood that. And he was unavailable for selection. After that, he played in the IPL, so we all thought he would be on the plane to Australia, which he wasn't. And we had no information whatsoever as to why he was not travelling with us,” Kohli said.
Though Rohit was added to the Test squad later on, he went to Mumbai before reporting at the NCA last week. In contrast, Saha, who too suffered a hamstring injury and needed rest, travelled to Sydney with the team where he is undergoing rehabilitation. Since then, tests at NCA have revealed that Rohit has not recovered and will need two more weeks of rest, which means there is no guarantee that he will be available for the Test series.
“After that, the only mail we have received is he is at the NCA and he will be assessed on December 11. From the time the selection meeting happened to IPL finishing and now — when the email received from the NCA — there has been no information, a lack of clarity. We have been playing the waiting game on this issue for a while now and it is not ideal at all. It has been very confusing and there is uncertainty around the situation.”