Rohit & Ishant out of first 2 Tests

Indian pacer Ishant Sharma and ace batsman Rohit Sharma are ruled out of the first 2 Tests to be played in December against Australia. Chances of both these players participating look gloomy at this point.

It is learnt that Rohit Sharma, who suffered a hamstring injury during IPL 2020 can be cleared to travel only in the second week and it is understood he would need 2 weeks of further rehab after which a call can be made on his participation. Sources said that Rohit had better chance of playing in Test series had he flown with the team directly to Australia from UAE. Even if he flies out on the earliest possible date, which is December 8, he would have to serve a 14-day hard quarantine, which will keep him out of training until at least December 22.

On the other hand Ishant Sharma who has regained fitness needs four more weeks of training to be Test match ready to bowl long hours. Unless he gets to Australia soon, his chance of participating in Test series are highly doubtful as the 14 day quarantine period in Australia will further delay his training routine.

Ishant Sharma and Rohit Sharma who are training at National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru regained fitness and looked like they were going to be back in Test team. It is understood that they are good to go for a T20 match but the rigorous work load that Test match seeks is what concerns the authorities.

“If there is a T20 game and he needs to just bowl four overs, Ishant is good to go immediately, but for him to get back to Test-match fitness, he needs four weeks of proper bowling still,” a BCCI source said.

The 32-member India contingent has begun training in Sydney while in quarantine since they flew over directly from one biosecure bubble in the UAE – after the completion of the IPL – to another. Such concessions can’t be afforded to Rohit and Ishant upon arrival, since they aren’t in a biosecure bubble at the NCA where they are currently training.

If Rohit is ruled out, Shreyas Iyer could be a possible cover. Shreyas is yet to make his red ball debut. He has 4592 First Class runs to his name with an impressive average of 52.18 with the bat.

Indian fast bowling contingent for the Test matches include Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Navdeep Saini and Mohammed Siraj. The limited overs pace unit also has the likes of Deepak Chahar, Shardul Thakur and T Natarajan – along with two reserve bowlers in Kartik Tyagi and Ishan Porel.

UPDATED: Ishant Sharma has been ruled out of entire Australia Tour