Ravi Shastri gives ultimatum to Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma; asks them to board flight in 4-5 days

Indian cricket team’s coach Ravi Shastri has given an ultimatum to two superstars – Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma – asking both of them to board a flight to Australia in the next four-five days. Both the players were injured during the recently concluded Indian Premier League but were included in the Indian side for the Test series against Australia. Recently, Ishant was spotted bowling in full swing at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) Bengaluru, Rohit made it clear that he is recovering well from his hamstring injury. 

"He's (Rohit) going through some tests at the NCA," Shastri said, in a chat with Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Sunday (November 22). "They will decide on when he could be back, but things could get difficult if we have to wait for too long (speaking about the 14-day quarantine in Australia). It could become tough for him to come just before the Test series. Similar is the case with Ishant who's also at the NCA." 

While Ishant was ruled out at the earlier part of the IPL, Rohit pulled his hamstring later on. The latter even took the field for his side in the knock-outs, scoring a match-winning half century in the final. 

"He (Rohit) was never going to play the white-ball leg of the tour, we needed to know how long he needed to rest, but you can't afford a long period of rest. If he's going to play red-ball cricket in the build-up for the Tests (as with Ishant), they need to be on the flight within the next 4-5 days. If one can't, it's going to be tough (talking about selection for the Test)," Shastri further added. 

Talking about the tour, India will play three ODIs and an equal number of T20Is which will be followed by a four-match Test series. Rohit’s fitness will be closely watched as captain Virat Kohli is also set to miss three Tests of the series to be with his wife Anushka Sharma for the birth of their first child in early January 2021.