Rohit Sharma Was Never Going To Fly To Australia: BCCI Makes Startling Claim As Opener Is All But Ruled Out Of Australia Tests
Published - 25 Nov 2020, 10:33 AM | Updated - 23 Aug 2024, 12:37 AM
With every passing day, Rohit Sharma’s injury saga is taking a new turn. And a new report has revealed a completely different angle to the case. While there was a belief that Rohit Sharma would recover in time at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) for the Australia tour, the BCCI ‘knew he was never going to fly’.
The BCCI, in fact, had no idea who took the decision to send the star batsman to NCA instead of Australia with the rest of the team. Team India left for Australia just a day after IPL 2020 ended in the UAE. Rohit Sharma, on the other hand, decided to return to India and undergo a rehabilitation at the NCA.
In October, Rohit Sharma was not named in any of India’s three squads because of a hamstring injury. However, he had returned to action soon and was later added to the Test squad. The BCCI, however, decided to rest him for the ODI and the T20I series as a precautionary measure.
But while the Indian cricket fraternity was hopeful that Rohit Sharma would recover in time for the tour, the BCCI knew it all along that the batsman would never make it to Australia. A BCCI source also said that Shreyas Iyer is likely to be included in the Test squad.
“Rohit and Ishant were anyways not part of the squad. An 18-member team was announced for the four Tests. Now that Virat (Kohli) is returning, we’re hoping Shreyas Iyer will stay back for the series,” a BCCI source was quoted as saying by TOI.
What has made things tough for the opener is the no availability of commercial flights as well as the strict and mandatory 14-day quarantine in Australia. The report stated that his fitness assessment has been scheduled for December 11, following which it will be decided if he is fit to play a Test match.
“But the problem is that there’s a 14-day mandatory state quarantine in Australia. Even if he is allowed to travel on the 12th, how will he fly? There are no commercial flights. And even if he manages to fly, he has to undergo the two-week solitary quarantine. When will he be available, subject to fitness,” said those tracking developments.
“We all knew he was never going to fly,” added the source.
India are scheduled to play three ODIs, three T20Is and four Tests in Australia. The ODI series from November 27 will kickstart the tour. The Test series, on the other hand, will start on December 17 in Adelaide.
