IPL 2020: Rohit Sharma takes field despite BCCI President Sourav Ganguly’s warning

IPL 2020: All eyes were on the Mumbai Indians dugout right before the toss against Sunrisers Hyderabad to see who comes out to toss the coin. As it turned out, it was the regular captain Rohit Sharma, who has been left out of India’s squad for the Australian tour, who walked out onto the field. Interestingly, Sharma decided to take the field on the same day when BCCI President Sourav Ganguly underlined that they don’t want Sharma to rush and give him time to recover from the hamstring injury.  

Defending the selectors’ decision to leave Rohit out of India squad against Australia this month, Ganguly said in an interview to PTI, “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.” 

Rohit missed Mumbai’s last four matches after suffering a left hamstring injury while finishing a run at the end of the first of the two Super Overs. He had not been named in any of the three India squads that were announced last week for the Australia tour. 

Head coach Ravi Shastri also gave a similar advise to the Mumbai Indians skipper. He said that the call not to include Rohit in the squad was taken by the selectors after going through his medical report. 

“It’s being handled by the people in charge of the medical part of it. We don’t get involved in that. They have submitted a report to the selectors and they have gone about their business. I have no say, neither I am a part of the selection. All I know is the medical report which says he could be in danger of injuring himself again,” Shastri said. 

The tour of Australia comprises three T20 Internationals, as many ODIs and four Tests. The series is scheduled to start on November 27.