Ganguly advises caution but Rohit decides to play

Rohit Sharma. Credit: iplt20.com, BCCI

On a day when BCCI president Sourav Ganguly advised the injured Rohit Sharma to plan his return cautiously, the opener chose to turn up for Mumbai Indians in what was an inconsequential game for them against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL on Tuesday.

Rohit, who managed a 7-ball-four, had missed four of MI’s previous games after sustaining a hamstring injury during their double Super Over game against Kings XI Punjab last month, and subsequently had been left out of all three India squads for the tour Down Under.

His exclusion, without attributing any reason, had raised a few questions which were partly answered in an interview by head coach Ravi Shastri, who claimed the medical report warned of injury if the batsman is rushed into action.

On Tuesday, Ganguly, terming Rohit an “asset”, said: “Rohit is injured at the moment. Otherwise, why would we leave out a player like him. He is the vice-captain of the national (limited-overs) team. We will have to assess him. I don’t know (when he can come back). He hasn’t played so far since the time he has got injured. We want him to recover. It’s the BCCI’s job to get their best players on the park. If he recovers, he plays,” said the former captain.

Hours later after Ganguly’s remarks, Rohit trooped out for the toss in Sharjah and declared himself “fit and fine,” putting the BCCI in a spot.

With his team already in the play-offs, Rohit could have taken more rest before Qualifier 1 on Thursday but the star batsman decided to spend some valuable time in the middle after a two-week injury lay-off.

When asked about the videos put out by Mumbai Indians where Rohit is seen batting at the nets soon after his omission for Australia series, Ganguly struck a note of caution for the senior player. “Yeah, you don’t want him to get injured again. He has a hamstring tear and it will get ruptured again. It will then get longer for him to come back. But yes, there are people working with him.

“The Mumbai Indians physio is working with him. The Indian physio (Nitin Patel) is there. Rohit himself knows that he has got a long career ahead and it’s not just this IPL or next series for him. “I am sure he is mature enough to do what is best for him,” said the man, who played 424 international matches for India.

For someone who has played 113 Tests and 311 ODIs, Ganguly feels that what looks good during training might not hold up in a match situation.

“...I can tell you that things you do easily at the practice might be a bit of struggle during match situation. The muscles react differently to pressure situations.”

However on a positive note, the BCCI president said that Ishant Sharma’s recovery from a side strain is going well and he “expects” the senior speedster to be available for the Tests against Australia, starting mid-December. “Yes, we are expecting Ishant to be back for the Test matches. He has already started bowling from shorter run-ups and short spells. He has bowled at NCA. But as there is a BCCI protocol for fast bowlers.”