Here’s Why Rohit Sharma Did Not Travel To England With Virat Kohli And Co.: The first batch of Indian players and staff left for England on the morning of June 16 from Mumbai for the all-format tour, the pictures of which were uploaded by the BCCI.
Former captain Virat Kohli, pacers Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Prasidh Krishna and Mohammed Siraj, Cheteshwar Pujara, Shubman Gill along with all-rounders Ravindra Jadeja and Shardul Thakur were spotted in the images.
However, it was the absence of the main man, skipper Rohit Sharma, from these images that drew curiosity and concerns from fans who even speculated whether the captain is fit for the Birmingham Test that starts on July 1.
— BCCI (@BCCI) June 16, 2022
@CricCrazyJohns why is rohit Sharma is not seen any pics
@mufaddal_vohra pic.twitter.com/Gq4E2r6dgB
— navaneeth h (@navaneethh_45) June 16, 2022
Rohit ?
— . (@guillotineeee_) June 16, 2022
Is Rohit Sharma unfit?
The good news is that skipper Rohit Sharma is fit and fine and will leave for England on June 20 along with some other players and staff members in the second batch, as reported by Sports Today.
Sharma recently returned from his vacation in the Maldives and will join Rishabh Pant and Shreyas Iyer for the flight to the UK on June 20 from Bangalore after the completion of the ongoing India-South Africa T20I series.
The Edgbaston Test, which is the last Test of the unfinished series from last year, will be the first time Sharma will lead India in an overseas Test. Under Kohli’s captaincy, India gained a 2-1 lead in the 4 Tests played so far, where Sharma was India’s highest run-getter with 368 runs only behind Joe Root.
Sharma, though, is coming off a poor IPL season – where he finished with 268 runs at an average of 19 and a strike rate of 120 and couldn’t notch up a single half-century.
India will kick off the tour with a 4-day practise match against Leicestershire from June 24, while Hardik Pandya will be leading the T20I side for two T20Is in Ireland on June 26 and 28. The Edgbaston Test will be followed by 3 T20Is and 3 ODI with the tour concluding on July 17 in Manchester.
Meanwhile, opener KL Rahul has been ruled out of the entire England tour and will fly to Germany for treatment of his groin injury.
