India opener Rohit Sharma has cleared his fitness test at the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru on Friday, ESPNcricinfo has reported.
Rohit, who had suffered a hamstring tear during the Indian T20 League, is expected to fly out to Australia in the "next day or two".
Good news for India: Rohit Sharma cleared by NCA to fly to Australia
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) December 11, 2020
According to the aforementioned source, the BCCI will take the final decision on his travel and he is expected to feature in India’s third and fourth Test match against Australia after completing his mandatory 14-day quarantine period.
The Indian opener had reached the NCA on November 19 and was set to undergo a fitness assessment on Friday.
Earlier, the BCCI had announced their decision of adding Rohit Sharma to the Test squad for the series Down Under, after initially leaving him out of the tour due to fitness concerns.
"The BCCI Medical Team has been monitoring Rohit Sharma's fitness and has briefed the All-India Senior Selection Committee on the same. In consultation with Sharma, it has been decided to rest him for the ODIs and T20Is in Australia to regain full fitness and he has been included in India's Test squad for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy," a BCCI statement read on November 9.
Updates - India’s Tour of Australia
— BCCI (@BCCI) November 9, 2020
The All-India Senior Selection Committee met on Sunday to pick certain replacements after receiving injury reports and updates from the BCCI Medical Team.
More details here - https://t.co/8BSt2vCaXt #AUSvIND pic.twitter.com/Ge0x7bCRBU
Interestingly, Rohit had flown back to India after playing for the Mumbai team in the Indian T20 league final on November 10 and later headed to the NCA to complete his rehabilitation.
Meanwhile, there was massive confusion regarding Rohit’s availability for the India-Australia Test series during the past few weeks with India cricket team captain Virat Kohli revealing that that there was no communication about Rohit Sharma’s travel plans to Australia.
Speaking to the media, Kohli had said: "Well, before we had the selection meeting in Dubai, we got a mail two days before which said that Rohit is unavailable for selection because of the injury he picked up during the IPL. It mentioned a two-week rest and rehab period, and it said that the pros and cons of the injury were explained to Rohit and he understood that.
"It was the information we got by mail but after that, he played in the IPL. We all thought that he would be on the flight to Australia which he wasn't and we had no information whatsoever on the reason behind him not flying to Australia,” Kohli added.
The Indian cricket team will start the four-match Test series with the pink-ball Test in Adelaide on December 17.
