There has been much controversy surrounding the hamstring injury to Rohit Sharma. The BCCI ruled Rohit Sharma out of the entire Australian series during the 2020 IPL. Indians fans were confused because the Mumbai Indians captain were posting pictures on social media showing their captain practicing in the nets.
IPL Franchise over Country?
Rohit Sharma did miss a few games for the Mumbai Indians due to his injury but came back just before the playoffs and did a great job in leading the Mumbai Indians to the 5th IPL Championship trophy. Indian fans questioned if something fishy was going on with the BCCI leaving out Sharma for the Australian tour when he was playing IPL cricket.
There were some fans who questioned Sharma’s loyalty claiming that he preferred to play for the Mumbai Indians and miss out representing his country. While the rumours and speculation kept circulating on social media, the man himself stayed quiet until recently when he opened up and shared exactly what was going on with his health.
The Indian vice-captain admitted that was also confused with how things were playing out in the media. Sharma admitted that he stayed in constant contact with the BCCI and the Mumbai Indians during this time and did not blame any of them for the controversy on social media.
Rohit Sharma’s Thought Process
Sharma said that when he suffered the hamstring injury during the IPL, he had to sit out and assess how is body was feeling. When he felt his body was getting better, he told the Mumbai Indians that he would be okay for the playoffs and if he felt any discomfort he would opt out. Sharma said that his injury improved everyday and he knew that he could play T20 cricket and not compromise his health.
When it came to the Australia series, he decided that it was better for him to miss the ODI and T20 series as he decided to prioritize the test series. Sharma knew that his body needed another two or three weeks of rehabilitation before he was ready for 5 day cricket. His decision makes a lot of sense given the fact that Indian captain Virat Kohli will be present during the ODI and T20 series but not for the test series.
Kohli will only play the first test match and then most likely miss the next three test matches. This is because Kohli has requested the BCCI for permission to fly back to India to be there for the birth of his firth child. In his absence, it will beneficial for Team India if Rohit Sharma is present for the test series.
Will Rohit or KL Rahul Captain In The Test Series?
Rohit Sharma is the vice-captain for India. Since he is not available for the T20 and ODI series, KL Rahul will take on the vice-captain role. It will be interesting to see if the BCCI decide to continue with KL Rahul during the test series or given the reins to Rohit Sharma.
There has been a lot of talk of splitting the captaincy for Team India and giving the ODI and T20 captaincy to Rohit Sharma given his success with the Mumbai Indians. However, some pundits have claimed that Rohit Sharma is successful because the Mumbai Indians is such a powerful unit. They questioned if Sharma would be able to achieve the same level of success if he was captaining the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
Sharma said the Mumbai Indians did not become a dominant team overnight. Sharma said in not so many words that he played a vital role in developing the Mumbai Indians into a champion team and mentored a number of young players like the Pandya brothers and S Yadav.
Sharma said his philosophy in life was mind over matter at all times.
