Rohit Sharma is not featuring today in the Mumbai Indians-Punjab Kings encounter at the Wankhede Stadium in the Indian Premier League (IPL). MI captain Hardik Pandya spoke about this at the toss which Punjab Kings won and decided to have a bowl. “Rohit is not playing today. He may take another couple of games before he can return to action,” the MI skipper said.
Quinton de Kock of South Africa has been included into the side and will open along with fellow compatriot Ryan Rickelton.
Rohit picked up a hamstring injury in Mumbai Indians’ last match against Royal Challengers Bengaluru this past Sunday at the Wankhede Stadium, which MI lost rather one-sidedly. They lost by 18 runs but if truth be told, they were never really in the contest.
He had been attended to first, but it didn’t help him much, and shortly after, he decided to walk out. He didn’t return to bat as RCB won comprehensively.
Rohit had scored 19 off 13 balls when he walked out in the sixth over, and his injury, it has to be said, compromised MI’s chase in a big way. The media manager of the franchise later said the updates on Rohit’s fitness will be made available as soon as they are available.
RCB match was bad for Rohit for this reason too!
The match against RCB was quite eventful for Rohit. Before the start of the chase, his bat was checked by a match official. Rickelton’s bat passed the gauge test at the first attempt, however, Rohit’s bat was tested twice, and it wasn’t smooth-sailing by any means. The bat could be slotted into the gauge only after some efforts. Rohit really looked annoyed at this and Tilak Varma also joined him to help him with the gauge test. Finally, he was allowed to use the bat. Little did he know at that time that his innings would be brief and cut short by a hamstring injury.
Rohit has really worked hard in the last few months to prolong his ODI career. He wants to play in the World Cup next in South Africa and Zimbabwe. In his long career, he has won all white-ball trophies, except for the ODI World Cup.
However, these injuries suggest there is no guarantee Rohit will play next year. The age is definitely not on his side, and things are going to get worse by the look of things.
