New Delhi: India’s star opener Rohit Sharma and pacer Ishant Sharma will miss the first two Tests against Australia. Both Rohit Sharma and the fast bowler are also doubtful for the remaining two sources in the BCCI said Tuesday. This new development came after it was conveyed to the BCCI that the duo will require close to a month to be match fit.
The two are undergoing rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bangalore. They are already out of contention for the limited-overs leg of the series, which begins Friday with the ODIs. Both Rohit and Ishant were kept in the Test squad for the series starting December 17. However, tough quarantine rules made their availability uncertain.
“The NCA has given a report that both Rohit and Ishant will take at least another three to four weeks to get match fit,” a BCCI source said.
Rohit had stated last week that his hamstring injury is fine. He is only working on strength and conditioning at the NCA to be battle-ready. Ishant, on the other hand, is recovering from a side strain.
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“Even if they travel now they will have ‘hard quarantine’ since they will travel by commercial flight. Hard quarantine means not being able to train during the 14 days like the whole team,” the source said. “So, now Cricket Australia (CA) have to convince the government and allow them to train during quarantine. Otherwise, no use of them going,” the source added.
The Indian team had landed here after the IPL earlier this month on a chartered flight. They were allowed to train in quarantine as Australia battled a fresh wave of COVID-19 cases.
Head coach Ravi Shastri had also expressed doubts about the availability of both Rohit and Ishant. He stated Sunday that the two cricketers’ chances of playing the Test series depend on whether they board a flight to Australia within this week.
The four-Test series, after the day-night opener in Adelaide, will move to Melbourne (December 26 to 30), followed by games in Sydney (January 7 to 11) and Brisbane (January 15 to 19).
India will be without skipper Virat Kohli after the first Test as he will return for the birth of his first child. So now with Rohit doubtful, the batting will surely have a lot of problems.
The visitors had won the 2018-19 series 2-1. Then the Aussies were without David Warner and Steve Smith who were undergoing a ban.