Will BCCI take action against Mumbai Indians? It is now official that Rohit Sharma will not be part of the first couple of tests against Australia. If the pandemic induced quarantine is taken into consideration, it is highly unlikely that Rohit Sharma will be part of the last couple of tests either. He is not part of the limited overs squad either. This effectively means that Rohit’s Australian tour has ended even before it has started. Rohit is an important member of the limited overs squad and as opener, he was expected to tackle the short pitch bowling in Australia rather easily. With his experience, he would have been the ideal factor to support Mayank Agarwal though Rohit’s credentials as a test player is yet to be proven.
Unfortunately, that will not be the case in this series. Why? The reason being first, The BCCI and second, Rohit’s IPL franchise, Mumbai Indians.
Why is the BCCI responsible?
The BCCI went ahead and staged a full-blown IPL just before an important series and that too against Australia. Australians are in high spirits and are in good form with the return of Smith & Warner and the coming of age of Marnus Labuschange. They have had a successful 2019 with series wins against Pakistan, New Zealand and a creditable drawn Ashes in England. Also, the Australians are currently ranked number one in the traditional rating as well as the World Test Championship. This makes them doubly dangerous and it calls for peak physical fitness as well as form on the part of the Indians. However, what did the BCCI do? They staged an IPL, a T20 event and that too in Dubai for more than 2 months.
This ensured that key players like Rohit Sharma, Ishant Sharma & Bhuvneshwar Kumar are injured just before the important series. IPL also ensured that the players will not have sufficient practise before the first test though a couple of practise games are scheduled before the first test. A couple of T20s are scheduled on the same days as the first practise game. This clearly shows how little or no importance is given by the players and the board to practising before the first test. All the 3 will be vital for the team’s success. Ishant Sharma is in very good form over the last 15 months before the pandemic. It is another story that Ishant, who has been a non-performer throughout his career is suddenly being missed because of his recent performance.
Conflicting reports about Rohit’s availability
To top all of this, the BCCI, especially, the loud mouthed president, Sourav Ganguly, released conflicting statements to the media. Initially, Rohit was not part of the entire Australian tour and later he was added to the test squad and now he is again out of the entire series. Did the BCCI talk to the Rohit’s franchise to ascertain his injury level? Were the BCCI kept in the dark by Mumbai Indians? Was it deliberate on the part of either Rohit and / or Mumbai Indians? What do they gain out of that? Only Rohit can gain because as argued earlier, Rohit is quite clearly afraid that his test career at this late stage, may derail if he fails in Australia. The second thing is that, Rohit does not really care about playing for the country.
Rohit’s injury was clouded in so much secrecy that even the team management is not clear on the injury level.
“Before we had the selection meeting in Dubai, we had got an email two days before that, which said that he is unavailable for selection [as] he has picked an injury during the IPL,” Kohli said at the virtual media briefing in Sydney. “And it mentioned there was a two-week rest and rehab period. The pros and cons and the implications of the injury has been explained to him and he understood that. And he was unavailable for selection. That was the information we got on mail before the selection meeting. After that he played in the IPL, so we all thought he would be on that flight to Australia, which he wasn’t. And we had no information whatsoever on the reason on why he is not traveling with us.”
If the captain himself is unware of his player’s injury, what can be said?
Why is Mumbai Indians responsible?
Let me assume that Rohit Sharma was genuinely injured. He really had a problem with his hamstring and that there wasn’t any hidden agenda behind the entire episode. This is an injury that will heal itself with sufficient rest. With 2-3 weeks of complete rest, Rohit would have been absolutely fine to board the flight to Australia. However, what did Rohit do? He went on and played the IPL qualifiers and scored a match winning 68 in the finals. From being a player on the sidelines to playing a match winning innings, ends certainly do not meet. There is certainly something sinister going on.
Mumbai Indians are certainly aware of the impending Australian tour. They were aware how important Rohit will be in Australia given his limited overs record in that country. However, they choose to place their interests above that of the country. They must have forced or convinced Rohit to play in the qualifiers.
All of these points to severe negligence on the part of Mumbai Indians and as such some kind of an action will have to be taken against that franchise. Will the BCCI be bold enough to take such an action? Will the BCCI be strong enough to take on the might of Mukesh Ambani? The most richest businessman in India and among the top 10 richest in the world? Knowing the BCCI and the current president, leave alone an action even a warning will not be forthcoming from the board.
Conclusion
I sincerely hope that whoever replaces Rohit Sharma in tests, performs admirably alongwith Mayank Agarwal and Rohit is shunned out of test cricket forever. This must serve as warning to anyone who places franchise or state over the national team. However, this will never happen. All those years ago, even the so called great, Sachin Tendulkar, chose to rest himself from an international series rather than IPL before the England tour.