Ishant and Rohit Could Miss Australia Test Series: Report

India might eventually be without senior pros Ishant Sharma and Rohit Sharma for the four-match Test series against Australia which begins on December 17 in Adelaide. Before that both the teams will play six limited-overs games.

According to a Mumbai Mirror report, Ishant and Rohit might not be able to recover in time for the Tests. Rohit suffered a hamstring injury during the latter stages of the IPL while Ishant had a ribcage injury in the early stages. Rohit had been initially left out of all three squads but was later added to the Test contingent.

Both Rohit and Ishant have been undergoing rehab at the National Cricket Academy in Bangalore and the reports emerging are not very encouraging.

The report in Mumbai Mirror mentioned, “A meeting of the experts of the NCA is understood to have taken place recently when the fitness status of the duo was discussed and then informally conveyed to the Board of Control for Cricket in India, national selectors and the team management. A formal communication is expected soon.”

A couple of days back, India head coach Ravi Shastri stated that Rohit Sharma and Ishant Sharma must travel to Australia in the next three or four days, if they are to join up with the squad in time for the Test series.

“He’s going through some tests at the NCA and they’re obviously going to decide how long he needs to take a break. But things could get difficult if he’s asked to wait for too long, then you’re talking of the quarantine again, which might make it really tough for even him to come just in time for the Test series,” Shastri said in an interview on ABC Sport’s Summer Grandstand.

Rohit Sharma, the Mumbai Indians captain, had led his side to the fifth IPL title earlier this month and in an interview to PTI had mentioned that his rehab was going well.

“Hamstring is feeling absolutely fine. Just started the process of getting it nice and strong. Before I play the longer format, I absolutely needed to be clear in mind that there is no stone that is left unturned, that’s probably the reason, I’m at the NCA,” Rohit had said.

But it will be the absence of Ishant Sharma that will hurt India’s chances even more as it will disturb the established pace attack and open up gaps that Australia will look to exploit.

On November 18th, Ishant bowled full tilt in the presence of the Sunil Joshi, the chairman of selectors, and Rahul Dravid, the NCA chief and ESPNCricinfo had reported that BCCI observers believed that he was “looking good”.

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