A Dig At Rohit Sharma? Virat Kohli Reveals Opener Understood He Was Unavailable For Selection Due To Injury Before Playing In IPL

Virat Kohli has seemingly taken a dig at Rohit Sharma over his entire injury episode. Rohit Sharma’s participation in Australia is in doubt because of his and other parties’ failure to deal with the injury well. The opening batsman is currently at the National Cricket Academy for his rehab and is in a race against time to be fit for the Test series.

Speaking on the eve of the first ODI against Australia, Virat Kohli revealed that Rohit Sharma would be assessed again on December 11. In such a case, it will be quite tough for Rohit to be available for selection for at least the first two Tests if the existing quarantine rules are not relaxed in Australia.

At present, anyone arriving in Australia needs to be in a mandatory 14-day period. Reports have suggested that the BCCI is currently negotiating with Cricket Australia for relaxation in quarantine rules for Rohit. But if they fail, Rohit is likely to miss the first two Tests, provided that he boards the flight soon after being assessed on December 11.

A dig at Rohit Sharma?

Virat Kohli, on Thursday, expressed his surprise over the way the entire episode of Rohit Sharma’s injury unfolded. Last month, the opener was not named in any of the three squads for the Australia tour because of the hamstring injury he had sustained while playing against Kings XI Punjab.

But moments after the squads were announced, Rohit Sharma returned to the nets and also returned to the field for Mumbai Indians, leaving everyone surprised. At that time, it looked like the selectors and the medical team had erred. However, Virat Kohli has insisted that the case is different.

The 32-year old has revealed that Rohit Sharma understood when he was told that he was unavailable for selection because of the injury. The India skipper revealed that Rohit was told he needed a two week rest and rehab before the latter sprung a big surprise by returning to action. He also expressed his surprise over Rohit not boarding the flight for Australia after returning to action.

“Before we had the selection meeting in Dubai, we got a mail two days before that said he [Rohit] is unavailable for selection and that he picked up an injury during the IPL,” said Virat Kohli.

It mentioned there was a two-week rest and rehab period, the pros and cons, the implications of the injury was explained and he understood that. That was the information we got, and after that he played in the IPL, so we thought that he is going to be on that flight to Australia which he wasn’t,” he added.

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