Ishant Sharma, Rohit Sharma ruled out of first two Tests

[Serpico]

Ishant Sharma and Rohit Sharma have been ruled out of the first two matches of the upcoming four-Test series in Australia and their hopes of taking part in the last two Tests hinges on swift and decisive action from the BCCI, ESPNcricinfo has learnt.

To be in contention for the third Test, Ishant, who has regained bowling fitness but needs four weeks of workload to be ready for the rigours of Test-match play, will have to board a plane almost immediately.

The 14-day hard quarantine rule in Australia means he can start training only after two weeks; add another four weeks of preparatory training, and he can only be match-ready for the third Test, starting on January 7 in Sydney.

Rohit, who suffered a hamstring tear during the IPL, is understood to be a while away from full fitness. He can be cleared travel only in the second week of December and will need two weeks of further rehabilitation after which a final assessment can be made. According to a BCCI functionary, Rohit would have had a better chance of featuring in the Test series had he flown directly to Australia with the other squad members from the UAE.

Even if he flies out on the earliest possible date, which is December 8, he would have to serve a 14-day hard quarantine, which will keep him out of training until at least December 22.

Ishant's bowling workload has steadily increased over the past week after he regained full fitness at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru, where he has been training for close to a month since returning early from the IPL with an abdominal muscle tear. However, ESPNcricinfo understands there are concerns over his match fitness, which can only be ascertained once he's in a position to bowl at least 20 overs in a day.

"If there is a T20 game and he needs to just bowl four overs, Ishant is good to go immediately, but for him to get back to Test-match fitness, he needs four weeks of proper bowling still," a BCCI source said.

As such, even if Ishant and Rohit were to fly out in a day or two, the hard quarantine would mean each of them needing to isolate himself in his hotel room for 14 days. This will mean neither is able to take part in the two warm-up games that precede the first Test in Adelaide, which begins on December 17.

The 32-member India contingent has begun training in Sydney while in quarantine since they flew over directly from one biosecure bubble in the UAE - after the completion of the IPL - to another. Such concessions can't be afforded to Rohit and Ishant upon arrival, since they aren't in a biosecure bubble at the NCA where they are currently training.

If Rohit is ruled out, the selectors could look at adding Shreyas Iyer - who is already part of the white-ball squads - to the Test squad as a reserve batsman. In 54 first-class games, Iyer has aggregated 4592 runs at an average of 52.18. He has 12 centuries and 23 half-centuries, and has already been part of India's red-ball squad - when he was called up as cover for the injured Virat Kohli during the 2016-17 home series against Australia - but is yet to make his Test debut.

As for the fast bowling, India already have Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj in their Test squad. The contingent also has three reserve bowlers in Kartik Tyagi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Ishan Porel to pick from, if needed.

 

https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/30377226/australia-vs-india-ishant-sharma-rohit-sharma-ruled-first-two-tests

[Suhaan]

Iyer

[Suhaan]

15 minutes ago, Serpico said:

As for the fast bowling, India already have Jasprit Bumrah, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami and Mohammed Siraj in their Test squad. The contingent also has three reserve bowlers in Kartik Tyagi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Ishan Porel to pick from, if needed.

Saini too is in the test squad,hope TM which features Bevda and clueless Kaptaan don't waste first two tests on Umesh

[Vickydev]

Surely now Gill will start. Siraj maybe as the third seamer

[ShoonyaSifar]

Rohit's case has been so badly mismanaged by the TM. Fit enough to play 4 matches in a week in IPL but not fit for int'l cricket! Something is very clearly amiss. Not going to do any good for the team environment.

[rkt.india]

15 minutes ago, ShoonyaSifar said:

Rohit's case has been so badly mismanaged by the TM. Fit enough to play 4 matches in a week in IPL but not fit for int'l cricket! Something is very clearly amiss. Not going to do any good for the team environment.

It's not. Rohit clearly played IPL matches with injury. His hamstring injury is chronic now, same with Saha.

[Adamant]

31 minutes ago, ShoonyaSifar said:

Rohit's case has been so badly mismanaged by the TM. Fit enough to play 4 matches in a week in IPL but not fit for int'l cricket! Something is very clearly amiss. Not going to do any good for the team environment.

Actually playing ipl inspite of being injured and thus risking his fitness for the all important aus tour shows where his priorities are. 

He is the one who should be blamed not bcci or team management 

[The Monk]

9 minutes ago, Adamant said:

Actually playing ipl inspite of being injured and thus risking his fitness for the all important aus tour shows where his priorities are. 

He is the one who should be blamed not bcci or team management 

The last I checked IPL was a league organised by BCCI. You can't put the onus on the player to decide what's best for the country, BCCI could have had a no nonsense policy to tell the player to head to NCA as soon an injury is brought to attention, but shouldnt sit on the fence and say I told you so, that's clearly a lack of ownership and mismanagement.

[rkt.india]

1 minute ago, The Monk said:

The last I checked IPL was a league organised by BCCI. You can't put the onus on the player to decide what's best for the country, BCCI could have had a no nonsense policy to tell the player to head to NCA as soon an injury is brought to attention, but shouldnt sit on the fence and say I told you so, that's clearly a lack of ownership and mismanagement.

Player is contracted with franchise during IPL, not BCCI. 

[The Monk]

Just now, rkt.india said:

Player is contracted with franchise during IPL, not BCCI. 

But BCCI is still the overall authority of cricket management in India, they should have foreseen such conflicts

[Serpico]

27 minutes ago, Adamant said:

Actually playing ipl inspite of being injured and thus risking his fitness for the all important aus tour shows where his priorities are. 

He is the one who should be blamed not bcci or team management 

did playing in those matches aggravate his injury? why didn't they take him along with the team like saha and let him heal in australia? they followed different strategies for different players and now one of them is ruled out because of this. bcci really need some transparency 

[Suhaan]

8 minutes ago, Serpico said:

did playing in those matches aggravate his injury? why didn't they take him along with the team like saha and let him heal in australia? they followed different strategies for different players and now one of them is ruled out because of this. bcci really need some transparency 

Bcci behaves like a sarkari organization even worse they have no clue about anything

[chewy]

Seems IPL > then overseas tours

 

Bhuvnesh, Ishant, Rohit all had niggling fitness issues, but decided to go through IPL and BCCI either incompetent or not strong enough to intervene.

 

Anyways Rohit wasnt going to be missed in Tests, not done anything for 10 years, most privelegded player in India test cricket. His absence is a bonus.

 

Edited November 24, 2020 by chewy

[Serpico]

4 minutes ago, Suhaan said:

Bcci behaves like a sarkari organization even worse they have no clue about anything

usually sarkari orgs fail because politicians and officers intentionally cripple them to let private companies take over the sector. maybe ipl franchises are doing this to bcci now 

[Lone Wolf]

Not going to miss Rohit here..  Ishant is a loss though.  Instead of Iyer they should add Samson I think...  Who at least handles short balls well.  Iyer will be knocked out if he faces Aussie pace trio bowling bouncer barrage. 

[Serpico]

8 minutes ago, Lone Wolf said:

Not going to miss Rohit here..  Ishant is a loss though.  Instead of Iyer they should add Samson I think...  Who at least handles short balls well.  Iyer will be knocked out if he faces Aussie pace trio bowling bouncer barrage. 

Sanju Samsons first class avg is 37.6 

[Lone Wolf]

18 minutes ago, Serpico said:

Sanju Samsons first class avg is 37.6 

Yep..  But worth taking the chance coz we know how Iyer plays short ball.  Samson has cut & pull strokes & looks comfortable with short pitch stuff.  Plus he can keep as well.

If things go south on this tour..  It'll be better to have him than Iyer.

[Adamant]

1 hour ago, Serpico said:

did playing in those matches aggravate his injury? why didn't they take him along with the team like saha and let him heal in australia? they followed different strategies for different players and now one of them is ruled out because of this. bcci really need some transparency 

Playing in those matches was his choice and if a player participates in a match despite injury (whether injury gets aggravated or not doesn't matter) then he is the culprit. 

 

Also read Rohits interview where he said that it was his choice to Prepare in Nca instead of going to play odis in Aus. 

No more conspiracy theories pls. 

All theories have been proved wrong. 

 

This series was very important for India and the fact that he preferred to play in ipl despite knowing that he was injured shows us that he is not serious for test cricket. But its his loss not ours, he will be remembered as a bang average test player 

[Adamant]

28 minutes ago, Lone Wolf said:

Yep..  But worth taking the chance coz we know how Iyer plays short ball.  Samson has cut & pull strokes & looks comfortable with short pitch stuff.  Plus he can keep as well.

If things go south on this tour..  It'll be better to have him than Iyer.

Playing cut, pull against white ball is totally different to playing those shots against a red ball. 

Samson isn't a red ball cricketer and the chance of him succeeding in lois is also less 

[Khota]

It is a setback but there is plenty of depth in Indian cricket. No worries.