It's great news for India that Rohit Sharma is fit, opines Sunil Gavaskar

11/05/2020

After much speculations regarding Rohit Sharma's fitness, he left everyone shell shocked when he turned up for the game against SRH and Sunil Gavaskar reckons that if Rohit is fit, it is great news for Indian cricket. However, he also stated that everyone cautioning him are also well on point.

Generally, when a big player or even a regular one is injured or is under assessment ahead of a tour, at the time of squad announcement or later, a press release is issued so that there is clarity around the issue. But, that wasn't the case when BCCI announced its squad for the Australia tour, which didn't have Rohit Sharma's name on the list. Now, just after that his franchise released a training video of Sharma on social media, which fueled the fire and many started questioning the validity of his omission.

Then came the interviews of Indian head coach Ravi Shastri and BCCI President Sourav Ganguly wherein they asserted that Rohit should show caution and not hurry back to playing without completely recovering. However, Rohit Sharma surprised one and all, and everything that was said about his fitness when he turned up in the last group stage game that effectively was a dead rubber for his side against SRH in Sharjah.

Former Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar feels that irrespective of what happened in lead up to his return, it is great news for Indian cricket that Rohit is fit again.

"Whatever has transpired earlier with regards to his (Rohit) injury, keeping that aside, I would say it's a great news for Indian cricket that Rohit Sharma is fit," Gavaskar told YouTube channel "Sports Tak, reported TOI.

Ganguly and Shastri had shown their concern for India's seasoned campaigner and asked Rohit not to hurry back his return as it could further complicate his injury. Gavaskar opined that everyone was valid in their perspective but Sharma looked confident in the field against Hyderabad but if the board is still unsure, they can test his fitness again.

"Look, the concern shown by everyone collectively that there could be a rupture (if he hurries his return) is a valid one. But he looked confident. He fielded at the boundary ropes and also in the 30-yard circle," Gavaskar said.

"He played the match to show that he is fit but if BCCI wants to test his fitness again, then there is nothing wrong in it. Because they want to check if he is fully fit or not."

In the absence of Rohit Sharma, KL Rahul has been primed for the leadership role, with him taking over the vice-captaincy role for limited-formats for the Aussie tour. Now if Rohit returns what happens to Rahul, would Rohit return back as deputy to Kohli? Gavaskar reckons that it doesn't matter and the major talking point should be whether he is fit or not.

"Captain, vice-captain shouldn't be an issue at all. The moot point is the player should be available to play and he is available," Gavaskar said.

"Twice Rohit was asked before and after the match and he said that he is fit and doing well. He seemed confident. So actually, there is no point going into the details of what happened earlier. Let's talk about today and today he is fit," he added.

Defending champions MI will take on DC in Qualifier 1 on November 5 in Dubai after they finished the group stage as table toppers.