Rohit Sharma injury update: Will Rohit Sharma be available for AUS vs IND Boxing Day Test at the MCG?

Rohit Sharma injury update: The senior Indian opening batsman’s availability for the tour of Australia was under serious doubts.

India opening batsman Rohit Sharma has passed the fitness test conducted at the NCA (National Cricket Academy) in Bengaluru under the watchful eyes of head of NCA and former India captain Rahul Dravid.

Sharma, 33, was ruled out of the first two Tests on the tour of Australia due to a hamstring injury. What followed was contrasting statements from stakeholders amidst Sharma returning to the field to lead Mumbai Indians to their fifth Indian Premier League title.

Wicket-keeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha, who suffered a similar injury during IPL 2020, was taken to Australia but Sharma was sent back to India which further increased the confusion to the extent that captain Virat Kohli also revealed being unaware about the proceedings.

Top India batsman Rohit Sharma clears fitness test at Bengaluru’s National Cricket Academy ahead of Test series against Australia: BCCI source

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) December 11, 2020

Rohit Sharma injury update

Having cleared the test now, Sharma is supposed to be set to fly to Australia in the “next day or two”. According to ESPNcricinfo, the right-hand batsman will leave for Dubai in a chartered flight on December 13 and will travel to Sydney from there.

While the exact dates and procedure is yet to be confirmed, Sharma will have to undergo a mandatory two-week quarantine upon reaching Australia which means that he won’t be able to take part in the second Boxing Day Test starting from December 26 in Melbourne.

The New Year’s Test, scheduled to begin from January 7, should witness Sharma’s return to international cricket after 11 months. If his quarantine period ends on December 28, Sharma will have more than a week’s time to acclimatize to the conditions before playing the third Test.

Sharma, whose all five Tests against Australia have come in Australia, has scored 279 runs at an average of 31 with a highest score of 63*. The third Test in Sydney will be followed by a fourth one in Brisbane from January 15.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

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