Ahead of a big tour of Australia, there has been a lot of uncertainty surrounding the fitness of Rohit Sharma. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) finally released a statement late on November 26 to provide an update on the fitness of the opening batsman. The Indian cricket board confirmed that Sharma will go under a fitness test on December 11 to feature in the last two test matches of the series.
Meanwhile, the Indian cricket team suffered a big blow as Ishant Sharma has been ruled out for the Border Gavaskar trophy. The 32-year-old fast bowler has recovered from an injury that he suffered during the Indian Premier League (IPL), however he is not yet completely ready to play test matches. He will be a big miss for Team India since he played a big role in the last test series win in Australia. BCCI also confirmed that T. Natarajan had been added to the ODI squad.
There has been a lack of communication surrounding the fitness of Rohit Sharma. He was initially ruled out for the tour of Australia due to a hamstring injury. He recovered and played the last four games of the IPL. BCCI decided to rest him for the white ball series and included him in the test squad.
Sharma returned to India and starts training at National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. Eventually, he was ruled out for the first two test matches as he will have to undergo hard quarantine and there were doubts over his fitness for playing the longest format so soon. In the pre-match press conference on November 26, Virat Kohli admitted that there has been a lot of confusion surrounding Rohit Sharma’s availability for the test series.
BCCI eventually confirmed that the Indian opener had to return to India for personal reasons. Indian fans will be hoping that he passes the fitness test on December 11 and features in the last two test matches. The Indian team is already depleted in the batting department as Kohli has been granted paternity leave after the first test match.