Indian national selectors announced the squads for India's Tour of Australia 2020-21 which will begin next month. The Indians will contest in all three formats against the Australians over a period of around 2 months.
There were some surprises to the squads but the one change that came out of the blue was the exclusion of India's limited-overs vice-captain Rohit Sharma from all three formats. Sharma is currently leading the Mumbai Indians (MI) in IPL 2020 and has been sitting out citing left-hamstring injury for the last two games.
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The extent of the injury is not yet known and there are no updates from MI or from the BCCI regarding his fitness. The selectors have stated their medical team will continue to monitor the progress of Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma. After the announcement, MI posted a video of Rohit Sharma batting in the nets, which has caused a bit of a stir among the fans.
Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar told Star Sports, "I didn't see what was shown something about him practicing in the nets for Mumbai Indians. So I don't know what his injury is. If his injury was serious, he won't even be padded up. So we're talking about a tour which is starting in December, the Test matches start around December 17 which is a month and a half away."
"If he is practicing in the nets for Mumbai Indians, honestly I don't know what kind of injury it is. I think a little bit of transparency and a little bit of openness about what actually is the problem with him will help everybody. The Indian cricket fan deserves to know more than anything else," he added.
The 71-year-old mentioned that it was understandable about MI not giving a negative update because they are in the middle of an important tournament and don't want to give any psychological advantage to the other teams.
"I understand the franchises don't want to give the hand away, they are here to win the game. They don't want to give oppositions any psychological advantage."
"But we are talking about the Indian team. Even Mayank Agarwal has not played. Indian cricket fans, they ought to know, what is happening with two of their key players," he concluded.
(With inputs from India Today)
