Ravi Shastri Hints At Dropping Ishant, Rohit For Tests If They Don't Take The Flight In 'Four-Five' Days

India head coach Ravi Shastri has issued an ultimatum to Ishant Sharma and Rohit Sharma, stating that the duo needs to be in Australia ‘within the next 4-5 days’. Ishant and Rohit are currently at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru for their rehabilitation.

Ishant went to the NCA in October after suffering an abdominal muscle tear during the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the UAE. The pacer recently started bowling at the NCA and is looking set to regain his full fitness sooner rather than later.

On the other hand, Rohit joined the NCA only last week to recover from the hamstring injury he had sustained during the IPL. But he had recently said that his hamstring was “feeling absolutely fine” at the NCA. And while only time will tell when will they fully recover, Ravi Shastri has made it clear he needs both of them in Australia in the next few days.

Ravi Shastri also hinted that both the players could miss the action in the upcoming series if they don’t land in Australia quickly. A 14-day quarantine is currently mandated in Australia due to Covid-19.

The first Test of the four-match series starts on December 17, but India are also slated to play a three-day warm-up match on December 11 before that. For Ishant and Rohit to be out of quarantine by December 10, they would have to be in Australia by November 26.

“He’s (Rohit) going through some tests at the NCA,” Shastri said, in a chat with Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Sunday (November 22). “They will decide on when he could be back, but things could get difficult if we have to wait for too long (speaking about the 14-day quarantine in Australia). It could become tough for him to come just before the Test series. Similar is the case with Ishant who’s also at the NCA.”

“He (Rohit) was never going to play the white-ball leg of the tour, we needed to know how long he needed to rest, but you can’t afford a long period of rest. If he’s going to play red-ball cricket in the build-up for the Tests (as with Ishant), they need to be on the flight within the next 4-5 days. If one can’t, it’s going to be tough (talking about selection for the Test),” Ravi Shastri added.

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