Tuesday’s final league stage game of the 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL) saw senior India batsman Rohit Sharma return to the playing field. Rohit’s comeback to the Mumbai Indians (MI) playing fold clarified a lot of uncertainties around his injury status.
Rohit’s injury status
MI will be buoyed to have their regular captain back in action before heading into the playoffs. On October 18, Rohit, captaining Mumbai against the Kings XI Punjab, sustained a nasty tear to his hamstring. Consequently, the injury ruled him out for Mumbai’s next couple of games, with Kieron Pollard taking over as captain. Fans asumed that MI were simply resting their star opener for a few matches, and would slot him back into the side after he had made complete recovery.
However, in the weeks that followed, the ambiguity around Rohit’s injury status compounded even further. It all started when the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) excluded ‘Hitman’ from the squads for the upcoming Australia tour. Strangely, though, the Mumbai team did not make any comments on the severity of Rohit’s injury.
What made the situation even more peculiar, was that Rohit was actively working on his batting in MI’s nets. This led some fans to speculate that Rohit’s axing from the team might have been exclusive from his injury; a theory that intensified when Rohit dropped India cricketer from his Instagram bio.
“Hamstring is absolutely fine”- Mumbai Indians captain Rohit Sharma
Rohit’s return to the team in their previous encounter against the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) has only made the outside siuation more complicated. But the Mumbai Indians captain seems unfrazed by all that is happening around him as is just happy to be back on-field. Speaking to the presenters at the post-match ceremony, Rohit revealed that his hamstring situation is fine.
“I was happy to be back, it’s been a while. Looking forward to play few more games here, let’s see what happens. It (hamstring) is fine, absolutely,” he said.
Match Summary
Sadly, though, Rohit’s comeback to the team didn’t much improve their fortunes against an on-song Sunrisers Hyderabad team. He could only score 4 runs from 7 deliveries in MI’s below-par first-innings total of 149. Hyderabad didn’t make a fuss of the easy run-chase and comfortably won the match by 10-wickets. The win guaranteed SRH’s qualification into the playoffs while also knocking the Kolkata Knight Riders out of contention. Mumbai, meanwhile, managed to retain their top spot, and will next face-off the Delhi Capitals in the first qualifier.