Rohit suffered a hamstring injury during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 season, but turned out for Mumbai Indians in the IPL 2020 knockouts, including the final. Initially, after being not selected in any of the squads for the Australia series, he was later added to the Test squad.
On arriving in Australia, Rohit will go into quarantine which, under current circumstances, is 14 days. There have been some reports though claiming that BCCI might seek some relief for their star batsman.
In the event of Rohit having to serve the mandatory 14-day quarantine, he will be available for the last two Tests. The third Test of the series begins at Sydney on January 7.
The entire Rohit saga blew into a massive controversy as the Indian opener did not fly to Australia with the team. It was later learned that he stayed back in India owing to his father’s illness. Rohit had been undergoing rehab at the NCA in Bengaluru, where he finally cleared his fitness Test on Friday.
Meanwhile, having arrived in Australia, skipper Virat Kohli stirred up a hornet’s nest when he claimed that he was clueless about Rohit’s availability for the series Down Under.
“There has been no information, there has been lack of clarity, we have been playing waiting game on this issue for a while now which is not ideal at all, so it has been very confusing there has been lot of uncertainty and lack of clarity on the situations," he had said on the eve of the ODIs.
India will be without Kohli for the last three Tests. He will fly back to India after the Adelaide encounter having been granted paternity leave. In his absence, vice-captain Ajinkya Rahane is likely to lead the side.
--Renin Wilben
