‘Fit’ Rohit Sharma leaves for Australia, likely to be available for the 3rd Test

Tags: India tour of Australia, 2020-21, India, Australia, Rohit Gurunath Sharma

Published on: Dec 17, 2020

After all the confusion and controversy surrounding him, Indian opener Rohit Sharma left for Australia in the early hours of Tuesday. After serving his quarantine period Down Under, he is likely to be available from the third Test, which begins at Sydney on January 7.

According to a report in ANI, Rohit will keep working on his fitness while he is quarantine. "He left in the early hours today (Tuesday) and is headed to Australia via Dubai," a source told ANI.

The physios at NCA declared Rohit Sharma fit to travel to Australia, after which the BCCI released a detailed statement on his fitness, and how he will spend quarantine in Australia.

"Team India batsman Rohit Sharma has completed his rehabilitation process at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru and is now clinically fit. He has been rehabilitating and training at NCA since 19th November following a high-grade left hamstring injury suffered during the Indian Premier League (IPL).

"The NCA medical Team was satisfied with the physical fitness of Sharma after assessing him on different metrics that tested his skills related to batting, fielding, and running between the wickets. Sharma's physical fitness has been satisfactory, however, he will be required to continue work on his endurance.

"He has been given a detailed programme to follow for the duration of the two weeks he will be quarantined for. He will be reassessed by the Team India medical team post his quarantine to establish his fitness status and a call on his participation in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy will be taken accordingly," the BCCI release read.

Rohit had injured his hamstring during the IPL 2020 in the UAE. However, he played in the IPL play-offs and even top-scored in the final. After initially not being chosen in any squads, Rohit was later added to the Test team for the Australia series.

The entire Rohit saga blew into a massive controversy as the Indian opener did not fly to Australia with the team. It was later learned that he stayed back in India owing to his father’s illness. Rohit had been undergoing rehab at the NCA in Bengaluru, where he finally cleared his fitness Test on Friday.

Meanwhile, having arrived in Australia, skipper Virat Kohli stirred up a hornet’s nest when he claimed that he was clueless about Rohit’s availability for the series Down Under.

“There has been no information, there has been lack of clarity, we have been playing waiting game on this issue for a while now which is not ideal at all, so it has been very confusing there has been lot of uncertainty and lack of clarity on the situations," he had said on the eve of the ODIs.

--By A Cricket Correspondent

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