Shortly after Mumbai Indians shared a video of Rohit Sharma smoking a six in the nets, his absence during the all-captains’ meet took the internet by storm.
Shortly after Mumbai Indians shared a small clip of their captain Rohit Sharma smoking a six in the nets, his absence during the all-captains’ meet and photoshoot took the internet by storm. The event saw the gathering of all IPL captains barring one – the most successful of them all, Rohit, which led to a massive outburst on Twitter. Many called Rohit’s absence uncalled for but the reality was far from it. A report carried by Times of India has stated that Rohit was not keeping well because of which he couldn’t travel to Ahmedabad to join his compatriots.
“He was unwell and thus could not travel to Ahmedabad for the pre-IPL captains’ meeting and photoshoot,” TOI said while quoting a source. However, the source ruled out the possibility of Rohit missing MI’s IPL 2023 opener against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday. “He is, however, likely to be available for MI’s opening game in IPL-2023 against Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 2,” the source added.
The extend of Rohit’s illness is not known at the moment, but considering he was part of MI’s pre-season press conference, which lasted for over 40 minutes, things look well. It was during this press conference that Mark Boucher was asked about the prospect of resting Rohit for a few IPL games during the season to manage his workload, a question that both dodged. Rohit directed the question to Boucher, who then gave a very interesting answer.
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“In regards to resting Rohit, he is the captain. Hopefully he gets into some good sort of form and I hope he doesn’t want to rest. But yeah, we all adapt to different situations. If I can get the best out of him as a captain and player, that will be great. If it means he wants to rest 1 or 2 games, then I will do that. Absolutely, no problem,” the former South Africa wicketkeeper said.
If true, this is the third time Rohit will miss a match or series due to a health-related issues. In December he had to miss the two-Test series against Bangladesh after injuring his finger during the final ODI. Before that in 2022, Rohit missed a few games due to hamstring injury and a calf strain the year before that. This is exactly why MI need to monitor their captain’s workload especially in a World Cup year.
The BCCI has reportedly instructed the franchises to not overdo the key players shortlisted for the World Cup, but as Rohit rightly pointed out, once the IPL starts, the players belong to the teams and the final call will be taken by them alone. Rohit’s availability becomes all the more crucial this year given the horrible season the five-time champions endured last year, finishing with the wooden spoon with just four wins from 14 matches.