The Controversy Over Rohit’s Injury & Other Unanswered Questions

How does an ‘injured’ player recover from the injury and play 3 matches for his IPL franchise but is deemed not fit enough by the BCCI to even travel with his team for an international series just days later?

Indian limited-overs captain Rohit Sharma’s hamstring is at the centre of Indian cricket’s newest controversy as it has resulted in him being left out of the national squads for the upcoming T20I and ODI series against Australia, even as he himself says he is ‘absolutely’ fit.

It was a successful IPL for Rohit Sharma where he captained Mumbai Indians to yet another title but instead of his celebrations continuing on in Australia, with his Team India team-mates, Rohit landed in Mumbai on Thursday night even as the national team reached Sydney to prepare for the Aus series.

Meanwhile, Rohit has apparently been sent back to India to ‘recover’ from an injury that he’s already recovered from.

Even as the many parties involved in this entire matter disseminate information through different channels of communication, one thing is clear – the BCCI, the cricketer and even the national coach are not on the same page regarding Rohit Sharma’s hamstring injury.

Here’s a timeline of everything that’s transpired since Rohit injured himself last month:

1. On 18 October, Rohit Sharma played a match against Kings XI Punjab and injured a hamstring on his left leg during the game.
2. On 26 October, the BCCI announced the T20I, ODI and Test squads for the tour of Australia and Rohit’s name was missing from all 3. The press statement said “the BCCI Medical Team will continue to monitor the progress of Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma”. While Ishant had been forced to return to India to recover from his injury, Rohit continued to stay in the UAE with his Mumbai Indians team. In fact, just hours after the BCCI release, the franchise posted videos of Rohit training in the nets.
3. On 1 November, Indian coach Ravi Shastri revealed that Rohit’s medical report said, “He could be in danger of injuring himself again if he is not careful.”
4. On 3 November, BCCI boss Sourav Ganguly told PTI that Rohit was “injured at the moment”. Only, that very evening, he returned to the field in the game against Sunrisers Hyderabad. After the match, Rohit was asking if his hamstring was absolutely fine, he said, “yes, absolutely”.
5. On 10 November, Rohit played his third match after returning from his injury and scored 68 to help Mumbai Indians win their fifth IPL title.
6. On 11 November, the BCCI released an updated squad list for the tour of Australia and added Rohit to the touring party, but only for the Test series starting 11 December.

So now, at the end of it all, we have:

• an ‘injured’ player who was playing cricket
• a BCCI boss who insists he is injured
• and an IPL team that got 3 matches out a player who apparently is not fit enough to play for the national team.

Even as this saga continues to unfold, here are some of the big questions that do need answers in this unprecedented controversy.

• If Rohit is injured, as Ganguly suggests, why did the BCCI allow him to play 3 matches for Mumbai Indians? Is playing for club now bigger than playing for country?
• Who made the call to let him play? Was the Team India physio consulted before he took the field? Will Rohit be pulled up for taking the call to play and as Shastri said, risking further injury?
• If he is not injured as Rohit himself continues to insist, why is he being made to sit out of a tour that in any other year as well, would have one of the most important in the Indian cricket calendar.
• Why has the BCCI not sent Rohit to Australia as well, like Wriddhiman Saha? Saha is in fact currently also nursing an injured hamstring and is slated to play just the Test series. While Saha missed the last few matches of the IPL for SRH, Rohit did play the last 3 matches of the season but Saha is now in Australia while Rohit was sent back to India by the BCCI.