Commenting on Rohit Sharma’s injury status and his subsequent unavailability for Team India's tour to Australia, India skipper Virat Kohli recently said that there is a lack of transparency and communication over it.
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Now, former India pacer and Mumbai Indians’ Director of Cricket Operations Zaheer Khan has reacted to Kohli’s statement.
Zaheer admitted that Rohit was not 100 per cent fit, but he was still able to do the job in IPL 2020.
“I think there are different variables, and the management also can look at things differently. Like if you want a certain player to play the match at what level of fitness you want him to be and what kind of role is playing. Every case is a different case, and you have to see how determined one is to play, and that’s something Rohit showed as well. I think he was a bit unavailable not maybe at the hundred per cent fitness, but he was still able to do the job and got those 70 crucial runs in that final (IPL 2020). So I think there are certain things to be looked upon for sure,” he said on Cricbuzz Live show.
According to Zaheer, any player could be fielded at 70 or 80% fitness if they are managed properly. He also mentioned that the communication surrounding Rohit’s fitness was complicated.
“Well, I think communication is something which has been the talking point, but what I’d like to share with the viewers is the complexities of the scenario and the situation. Also, you know when you look at different formats of the game, the requirement around the fitness is different as well. Like you’re talking about T20 game which goes on for about three and a half hours, and One Dayers goes on for about seven hours. Similarly, Test matches give 30 to 40 hours of cricket,” Zaheer added.
“So, every format requires different fitness demands. And I think in Rohit’s case the communication around that could have been simple or could have been the complex what we’ve seen so far,” he further remarked.
Rohit Sharma is currently undergoing rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore. He is racing against time to get fit and fly to Australia for the Test series which includes time in quarantine.
Two days ago, the BCCI issued a statement as per which the final call on Rohit would be taken after an assessment on December 11.
“He is presently undergoing rehabilitation at the NCA. Mr Rohit Sharma’s next assessment will be conducted on December 11th following which the BCCI will have clarity on his participation in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia,” the board said in a media release.
