Rohit Sharma had a lean IPL 2020 season but he was in news all the while because of his hamstring injury. BCCI initially left out the star India batsman from the list of players to tour Australia between November and January. Rohit’s hamstring injury was the reason given by selectors for his omission but the video of the 33-year-old batting in the nets munutes after the board’s announcement gave birth to numerous speculations.
After resting in few league matches of Mumbai Indians in the 13th edition of IPL, Rohit Sharma returned back to lead his team and take them to their record-extending 5th title in tournament’s history. There were questions again as people wondered how is a ‘fit’ Rohit Sharma not travelling to Australia to play in the white-ball fixtures.
Rohit Sharma has now himself put an end to all the speculations. He has said that decision to miss the ODIs and T20Is matches was easy for him, adding that he was amused why people were finding his call complicated. The swashbuckling opener has added that he was in constant touch with BCCI and Mumbai Indians management overs the entire matter.
Rohit Sharma, who was later added in India’s Test squad for the 4-match Test series against Australia, said that his hamstring injury is fine but he would like to leave no stone unturned before joining the team for the longest format. Stating that there were “still” some works to be done, Rohit Sharma said that he was avoiding the risk of playing six white-ball games in 12 days.
“I don’t know what was going on, to be honest, and what all were people talking about,” Rohit Sharma, who is currently doing strength and conditioning work at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, told PTI. “But let me put this on record, I was constantly communicating with the BCCI and Mumbai Indians.
“I told them [Mumbai] that I can take the field since it is the shortest format and I will be able to manage the situation quite nicely. Once I made my mind clear, it was all about focusing on what I needed to do.
“Hamstring is feeling absolutely fine. Just started the process of getting it nice and strong. Before I play the longer format, I needed to be clear in mind that there is no stone left unturned. That’s probably the reason I’m at the NCA.”
“For me, it was not a concern what X, Y or Z was talking about like whether he would make it to Australia. Once the injury happened, the next two days all I did was to figure out what I can do in the next ten days – whether I will be able to play or not.
“But every day, hamstring [degree of injury] was changing. The way it was responding was changing, so I was feeling quite confident that I could play and that is the communication that I had with MI at that point.
“I told them that I think I will be okay to play just before playoffs. If there is any discomfort, I won’t be playing the playoffs.”
“There is still some work that needs to be done on my hamstring. That’s why I didn’t go to Australia for the white-ball leg as there are back-to-back games. Around six games in 11 [12] days.
“So I thought if I get to work on my body for 25 days, I can probably go and play the Test matches. So it was an easy decision for me and I don’t know why it became so complicated for others.”
The first Test match between India and Australia starts in Adelaide from December 17.
