Rohit Sharma in dark over injury, may be out for three months

Rohit Sharma on Friday stated he might be out for nearly three months if he undergoes surgery to recover from the nagging thigh injury he suffered in the last ODI against New Zealand.

Addressing the media at a promotional event in Bandra, the middle-order batsman said: “The BCCI medical team is in touch with a number of doctors who they’ve sent my medical reports. We’re not sure if a surgery is required but I’m hoping that the picture gets a bit clearer over the next couple of days. I might be out for nearly three months at least if there’s a surgical intervention.”

BCCI confirmed Rohit’s assessment. “BCCI medical team confirms that India batsman Rohit Sharma sustained an injury on his right upper quadriceps… he will travel to London early next week for specialist consultation with a possibility to undergo surgery, as a result of which, he is expected to miss at least 10 to 12 weeks of cricket,” BCCI said in a release.

Rohit was injured in the fifth and final ODI at Visakhapatnam and had to be treated on pitch before he mistimed a shot before he was dismissed on 70. “I felt something like a muscle pull when I was taking a run in the last ODI, following which our team physio advised me to get a scan done,” he added.

Read| Rohit Sharma injury to be assessed in England, ruled out of Test series

Rohit Sharma, along with openers Shikhar Dhawan and KL Rahul have been left out of the 15-member squad that faces England for the first two Tests of the five-match series.

Rohit, however, was elated with his Mumbai Indians teammate Hardik Pandya earning a maiden call-up to the Test side. “I’ve seen him in close quarters and I hope he gets his maiden Test cap. He’s very talented, bowls fast and has a good ability to come down the order and score runs. We’ve all seen him perform in the World T20 and the ODI series we played recently,” he said.

On India’s upcoming series against England that gets underway at Rajkot from November 9, Rohit Sharma said: “I think they (England) are a very good Test team. When they were here last time they beat us so we’ve got a lot to do. We understand their strengths and their weaknesses and have to try and exploit that to use it to our advantage. There’s a reason why we are the number 1 Test team in the world right now so let’s try and continue that. It’s not going to be easy. We’re talking about Test cricket here and we must put our best foot forward and take it as it comes.”