Boria Majumdar Clears The Air Why Rohit Sharma Came Back To India After IPL 2020
In a recent turn of events, Cricket journalist Boria Majumdar has revealed the reason why Indian opener Rohit Sharma didn't go to Australia with the team on November 12 after playing the IPL final.
Talking on his youtube channel Sports Today, Majumdar, clearing the air of politics in the BCCI, said that Rohit had himself opted out of the white ball series and wanted to play the test series.
"Rohit himself had opted out of the white ball series and wanted to play the series and was picked for the test series so there's nothing to do with politics that the team management doesn't want him," Majumdar said.
Further, the journalist revealed that Rohit came back to India because his father was tested positive for Covid-19.
“The reason Rohit didn’t travel with the team [to Australia], came back to Mumbai with Mumbai Indians is because his father had COVID. That is the reality," he said.
Giving the fitness update, the 54-year-old said that fast bowler Ishant Sharma is ahead of Rohit Sharma in terms of fitness.
"Ishant Sharma is slightly ahead of Rohit Sharma in terms of fitness. Rohit's about 75-80% fit, Ishant is about 85% fit at this point in time," stated Boria Majumdar.
The problem the two players are facing is the strict quarantine rules of Australia. It means that if Rohit and Ishant fly to Australia, they will have to do the hard quarantine of 14 days which will eventually make them out of the first two test matches. Also, for a fast bowler to play a test match, he needs to play at least one practice game which won't be possible in the case of Ishant Sharma.
Boria Majumdar added that Saurav Ganguly and the BCCI have formally requested asked Cricket Australia(CA) for special permission to allow Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma to change their hard quarantine rules.
"Am putting this on record that the formal request has been made by Saurav Ganguly and the BCCI to their counterparts in Cricket Australia(CA) and they are awaiting a response from Cricket Australia as to what they say on the formal request," Majumdar said.
"If the permission is granted and the two players clear their Covid tests then the whole scenario will change" he added.
Presently, both Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma are in National Cricket Academy(NCA) and doing rehab. Things will get more clear in the upcoming days when Cricket Australia(CA) respond to the formal request by BCCI.
India's limited-overs tour of Australia will begin on 27 November, Friday as the two teams will meet for the first One Day International(ODI).