Cricket News: Rohit Sharma's extended injury absence isn't a sign that his captaincy is over
Ahead of the second Test against Bangladesh, Indian fans were hit with the news that skipper Rohit Sharma would be unavailable for the series-ender due to his injury in the ODI series.
Image credit: PA Images Injured Rohit Sharma to miss second Test against Bangladesh"Rohit Sharma is under the care of the BCCI Medical Team following his left thumb injury, which he sustained during the 2nd ODI against Bangladesh in Dhaka," a BCCI statement read.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Rohit Sharma will not be available for the second Test against Bangladesh due to his left thumb injury. Navdeep Saini is also ruled out of the second Test owing to an abdominal muscle strain: BCCI <a href="https://t.co/jZEmVVuKPg">pic.twitter.com/jZEmVVuKPg</a></p>— ANI (@ANI) <a href="https://twitter.com/ANI/status/1605110765152653312?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 20, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
"The Medical Team is of the opinion that the injury needs some more time to heal completely before the Indian captain can bat and field with full intensity.
"He will continue rehab and will not be available for the second and final Test against Bangladesh.
"Navdeep Saini is also ruled out of the second Test owing to an abdominal muscle strain. The fast bowler will now report to the NCA for further management of his injury."
The exclusion of Saini will undoubtedly not have caught too many people's attention, as the pacer seemed unlikely to be starting the next match anyway.
However, most expected Rohit to be back for the second Test – meaning the team would have had to drop Vice-captain KL Rahul, or the man who scored his first Test century, Shubman Gill.
Luckily, that is a call the team will not have to make. However, there is now speculation regarding whether or not this was down to Rohit potentially being replaced as India's Test captain.
Such a thing would have led to many source-based reports being filed already – just as the news of Hardik Pandya being named India's T20I captain is known, even if it hasn't been made official.
That has yet to happen with Rohit's Test captaincy. There is no speculation from credible media sources over his replacement taking place for the Test and ODI formats.
In fact, given it's only been a little over a year since India named Rohit Sharma captain of all formats, it would be very harsh to take it away from him so soon.
There's also the fact that the team is making a decision on the T20I captain based on the fact that there is a readymade alternative available in Pandya.
However, the same cannot be said about an alternative in Test cricket. Captain for the series Rahul finds himself in a situation where his captaincy enamours only a few.
Vice-captain for the series Cheteshwar Pujara is a veteran and would be an extreme short-term fix if he were even named on the side for future tours.
Even another option like Rishabh Pant seems a risk – there is no guarantee handing the wicketkeeper-batsman the role would help him or India.
Therefore, Rohit will remain the Test captain for India. Him being rested seems like a precautionary measure, given India have series against Sri Lanka and New Zealand coming up – as well as a Test series against Australia.