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Headingley’s future as a Test venue appears to have been assured, following a funding agreement between Yorkshire County Cricket Club and Leeds City Council over the redevelopment of the ground’s rugby stand

ESPNcricinfo staff28-Mar-2017Headingley’s future as a Test venue appears to have been assured, following a funding agreement between Yorkshire and Leeds City Council over the redevelopment of the ground’s rugby stand that has served a dual purpose for cricket and rugby clubs over the past 84 years.Without the agreement, the ground’s future would have been in immediate peril. The club, already £24 million in debt, required council support to fulfil their £17 million share of a £32 million joint redevelopment with Leeds Rhinos, without which, the ECB had indicated, the ground could not be awarded any international fixtures beyond 2019.Now, however, Leeds City Council has brokered a £35m investment from a London-based investment group, subject to final approval by the authority’s executive board. The investors have proposed to build the new stands and rent them back to the cricket and rugby clubs.The agreement follows a sizeable public outcry following the council’s decision to withdraw the promise of a £4m grant to Yorkshire as it drew up its £2bn budget in a febrile atmosphere in which central government cutbacks sparked an internal row within the ruling Labour group over the closure of three are homes.Yorkshire were also at loggerheads over the proposed term of any private loan which councils are able to obtain at preferential rates compared to the open market.”I’m delighted we’ve found a solution that will ensure Headingley continues to enjoy full international sporting status,”
Councillor Judith Blake, leader of Leeds City Council, said.”Subject to the final approval of the council’s executive board, this will deliver the funding to redevelop the stadium in full. The money will be provided by a private financial services company at no cost to the council tax payer, which offers the best and most viable option moving forward.”Mark Arthur, Yorkshire’s chief executive, said: “We would like to thank councillor Judith Blake and Leeds City Council for their support in reaching this point. There is still a way to go, however, it is a significant step in securing the future of international cricket at Headingley.”Yorkshire County Cricket Club will continue to work hard to ensure that all remaining funds are in place to ensure that the redevelopment is completed in time for the Cricket World Cup in 2019.”Gary Hetherington, chief executive of Leeds Rhinos, added: “We have been working closely with Leeds City Council and partners to find a solution to ensure international sport continues at Headingley Carnegie for many years to come and we appreciate all the effort and commitment put in by Leeds City Council to broker this deal.”There is still much to do but recent developments are very encouraging and could provide the funding mechanism to complete the redevelopment work.”

Wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella has been added to Sri Lanka’s squad as cover for Tillakaratne Dilshan, who was ruled out of the first T20 against India with a hand injury

ESPNcricinfo staff06-Feb-2016Wicketkeeper-batsman Niroshan Dickwella has been added to Sri Lanka’s squad as cover for Tillakaratne Dilshan, who was ruled out of the first T20 against India with a hand injury. Dilshan did not travel with the team to India on Saturday. He will instead spend a few days recovering from injury at home, before joining the side mid-series. He is expected to be available for the second match, in Ranchi, on February 12.This injury is an aggravation of an old complaint for Dilshan, who sustained it while attempting a catch during the semi-final of the recently-concluded Super T20 Provincial Tournament. He did not play in the final, but the injury is not thought to be serious. He is scheduled to resume training in the nets on Monday.Dickwella earned his call-up via a good run in the Super T20 tournament, where he struck 189 runs in six innings, with a strike rate of 173. He has played four Tests and one ODI for Sri Lanka, but is uncapped in the shortest format. He will remain in the squad even after Dilshan rejoins it.Dilshan is the third high-profile player to be struck by injury ahead of the series. Lasith Malinga and Angelo Mathews had already been ruled out of all three T20s. The first match is set to be played in Pune, on Tuesday.

ESPNcricinfo previews the third Investec Ashes Test at Durham

The Preview by Daniel Brettig08-Aug-2013

Match facts

August 9-13, Chester-le-Street
Start time 1100 (1000 GMT)Will David Warner be laughing his way back to the top of the batting order?•Getty Images

Big Picture

At Old Trafford England remained unbeaten for the 11th consecutive Test, while Australia failed to win for the seventh match in a row. The result also ensured the Ashes would remain in English possession, yet the evidence of the eyes tended to conflict with that conveyed by the scoreboard and the record book. Australia appeared to have turned a significant corner, putting near enough to five days of staunch cricket together for the first time in recent memory, and England looked more than a little exhausted by their earlier efforts in the series. At the same time their batsmen showed increasing signs of frailty in the face of the tourists’ admirable pace attack, a reliance on Ian Bell and Kevin Pietersen to extricate the top three from bother growing more apparent with each match.So with the series moving to a venue less familiar to both sides, though the pitch is again straw-coloured, the question is how much the trends of Manchester will have an impact on proceedings at Durham. England were by far the better of the two sides in coping with the quick onset of another match so soon after the Nottingham epic, and this time also have the added relief of not having to worry about retaining the urn anymore. They should thus be capable of playing with a little more freedom of expression, not least the young opener Joe Root, who looked near enough to paralysed during two soporific innings in Lancashire. The unrelenting seam-up stylings of Graham Onions appear a likely reinforcement for the hosts’ bowling attack, which lacked a certain pep last week.For Australia, the gains of the third Test will mean little if they are not followed up with a pair of equally compelling displays in the final two matches. Given how inconsistent the side has been throughout Michael Clarke’s captaincy, bottoming out with a horrid display in India, the habits of successful teams need to be re-established with a strong sequence of performances. The team’s belief in their bowling attack is considerable, but the batsmen now need to show that they can maintain the standards set by Clarke, Chris Rogers, Steven Smith and Brad Haddin. It cannot be forgotten that the next campaign for the Ashes is but three months away.

Form guide

England: DWWWW
Australia: DLLLL

Players to watch

Jonathan Trott has been on something of a charm offensive this summer, appearing in plenty of interviews and doing his best to sound like the world’s most fascinating individual. However somewhere along the way his ability to bat boring seems to have been lost. Near enough to impassable during the previous Ashes series in Australia, he failed to capitalise on some free-scoring form at Trent Bridge, albeit partly due to an incorrectly given lbw decision in the second innings. From there his form has ebbed away, and at Old Trafford he looked lost, stumbling across his stumps in the manner of sundry English batsmen in 1989. Within the team, Trott is admired for his consistency and even temper. Perhaps he needs to remember that being dull is an asset, not a weakness.Plenty of observers were surprised by the vim with which Chris Rogers batted in Manchester, but not those who had seen him play precisely those kinds of innings for Middlesex and Victoria. No fussiness, but plenty of feistiness, as a succession perfectly reasonable deliveries were cuffed to the boundary. The ability to play with aggression and decisiveness at a point of the game where others may be nervous or unsure is one of Rogers’ great attributes, but another is the fashioning of hundreds. So far, despite serviceable contribution to the series, he has fallen short of that goal. Nonetheless, Rogers is Australia’s best hope of finding someone other than Clarke to push on to the kind of score an innings may be built around.

Team news

Graham Onions and Chris Tremlett are both in the England squad, and it appears most likely that the former will shuffle into the XI, perhaps at the expense of Tim Bresnan. There will be some temptation to withdraw one of Stuart Broad or James Anderson from the firing line after their efforts so far in the series.England (probable) 1 Alastair Cook (capt), 2 Joe Root, 3 Jonathan Trott, 4 Kevin Pietersen, 5 Ian Bell, 6 Jonny Bairstow, 7 Matt Prior (wk), 8 Tim Bresnan/Graham Onions, 9 Stuart Broad, 10 Graeme Swann, 11 James AndersonHaving tried no end of permutations since Michael Hussey’s retirement, Australia appeared to settle on a batting order they may keep from the second innings in Manchester. David Warner looked comfortable at the top with Rogers, while Shane Watson’s bowling may again lead to his demotion. One of Ryan Harris or Mitchell Starc will most likely make way for the fresher Jackson Bird.Australia (probable) 1 David Warner, 2 Chris Rogers, 3 Usman Khawaja, 4 Michael Clarke (capt), 5 Shane Watson, 6 Steve Smith, 7 Brad Haddin (wk), 8 Peter Siddle, 9 Ryan Harris, 10 Nathan Lyon, 11 Jackson Bird.

Pitch and conditions

The surface unveiled for the fourth Test maintains a pattern of dry, hard pitches prepared more or less to the specifications of the England coach Andy Flower. The forecast for Durham is for the occasional shower amid periods of friendly, if cloudy, weather.

Stats and trivia

• This is the first Ashes Test to be played in Durham, making it the ninth ground to host a Test between England and Australia in the UK
• The last Ashes series to be drawn 2-2 took place in England in 1972
• Michael Clarke needs 103 runs to pass Justin Langer and move into sixth place on Australia’s list of all-time run-makers

Quotes

“We want to win the Ashes and we haven’t yet done it. Along the way we retained them pretty quickly so that is a great achievement and something to be mighty proud of. We want to go on and win the series. The way the lads are, the way we are as a team and the way Andy Flower operates, there will be no let up of the standards we set ourselves.”
“I don’t think anyone is here to ‘give them a go’. That’s not in any Test cricket and certainly not an Ashes series, especially the position we’re sitting in now. It’s about picking your best 11 players.”

The BCCI is likely to tread lightly on the Rahul Sharma drugs case, given the ambiguity in its rules and confusion over the specifics of what he is alleged to have consumed, and in what quantity

Sharda Ugra21-Jul-2012The BCCI is likely to tread lightly on the Rahul Sharma drugs case, given the ambiguity in its rules and confusion over the specifics of what he is alleged to have consumed, and in what quantity. Rahul is currently with the India squad in Sri Lanka and, though he didn’t play the first ODI on Saturday, he was seen practising with the team before the game.ESPNcricinfo has learnt that the Indian board has contacted the police to ask for the specific test reports on the two cricketers – the other being South Africa’s Wayne Parnell – but was unsure of how quickly it would receive them. Rahul, an official said, would be eligible to play for India and not be recalled from the five-match ODI series in Sri Lanka until the board had more detailed information.Rahul and Parnell, both part of the Pune Warriors IPL franchise, are alleged to have tested positive or banned substances following a raid by the Mumbai police at a rave party on May 20. They were tested for cannabis and methylenedioxy/methylamphetamine (MDMA) or Ecstasy, but the police have not specified which of the drugs they tested positive for.Legal experts say they can be charged under the Narcotics, Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act 1985. The penalty for the consumption of cannabis or MDMA is six months in jail or a Rs10,000 fine or both. However, this would be under the Indian legal system – a formal charging, indictment and conviction – and hence subject to delays and the possibility, if convicted, of an appeal.The two drugs are on the list of prohibited substances in the BCCI’s anti-doping code; cannabis is under a category called Cannabinoids and MDMA, under stimulants. However, they fall under the category of ‘in-competition prohibited substances’ and on the day of the raid Rahul and Parnell were both out of competition, their team having already ended its IPL campaign. Parnell was due to leave India the following day and Rahul due to return home to Chandigarh soon after.The BCCI official said the board was waiting for details of the quantity and precise nature of the drugs the players tested positive for, to see if the positive tests could have come from “passive smoking” in an environment where cannabis was being smoked. “That is why the quantity of the consumption is important in this case,” the official explained.A Pune Warriors team-mate said he was “very surprised” to hear of the positive test reports as both Rahul and Parnell were not seen drinking or smoking during the seven weeks of the IPL. “Ecstasy is consumed in a pill form and it is easy to spike drinks with them,” he said.Rahul’s Punjab coach Vikram Rathour told : “It is hard for me to believe knowing Rahul, who doesn’t even drink beer … it is surprising.”The Pune Warriors management said both players had been “released” from the team and would contemplate any action following the positive tests based on the direction of the BCCI.Mumbai deputy police commissioner Pratap Dighaokar told on Friday that the two cricketers had belonged to a group of 44 people who tested positive out of the 92 detained following the raid.There have been mixed reactions to the news that Rahul Sharma and Wayne Parnell tested positive for recreational drugs while at a rave party in Mumbai on May 20. As with almost anything dealing with Indian cricket, the reactions occupy extreme positions on either side. As of now, the only facts that are known are that the two players have – according to the police – returned positive results when tested for cannabis and MDMA or ecstasy, both recreational drugs; the alleged offence came at a time when they were not in competition (their IPL involvement was over) and the charges are yet to be formally pressed and will then run the full gamut of Indian law. Including, if convicted, the right of appeal. Those are the facts of the case at this point but there are several missing elements, which could reduce or remove culpability even in the face of a positive sample. For example, the quantity of the substance found is not yet known; a small quantity can be explained by passive smoking (in the case of cannabis). Nor is it clear whether they have tested positive for MDMA, which can be mixed in drinks.In this context, the reactions of the BCCI and of Pune Warriors – the IPL franchise that employs both players – have been temperate and rational. In essence, their stand is this: let the law take its course, let us get the facts and then act. How they will act is also flexible: though both drugs fall under the BCCI’s list of prohibited substances, they relate only to in-competition offences. For reference, it can look at England’s Football Association, which hands out a minimum of a warning and a maximum of six months’ suspension for a first offence of this nature. At the moment, the Mumbai incident is a potential violation of the law of the land and so the case must rest with the police. Both players have maintained their innocence from the day the story broke, and in any case are innocent till proven otherwise. The BCCI’s next step will be important, and will be watched by the rest of the cricket world: never the most dexterous of organisations, it must balance its stealth with full application of the law if the charges are proved. Till then, the waiting game is the best option.

Jayaditya Gupta

Pakistan fast bowlers Mohammad Talha and Sohail Khan have said they have made significant improvements to their game at the ongoing emerging players camp in Lahore

ESPNcricinfo staff15-Jul-2011Pakistan fast bowlers Mohammad Talha and Sohail Khan have said they have made significant improvements to their game at the ongoing two-week emerging players camp being held at the National Cricket Academy in Lahore.Talha, whose only Test cap for Pakistan came in the game that was unfortunately abandoned due to the attack on the Sri Lanka team bus, said the camp was helping him correct some of his mistakes. “Camps like this should take place more often, to give bowlers a fair opportunity to rectify their mistakes and enhance their ability,” Talha told the . Sarfraz Nawaz, the former Pakistan fast bowler and now mentor at the camp, had said he was impressed with Talha but there were some problems with his follow through. Talha said he had benefited from Sarfraz’s advice.”Sarfaraz Nawaz has given us various tips which will help us improve. I hope to be considered for the national side when I sign off from the camp, as I want an opportunity to prove myself.”Sohail was also optimistic about his chances of getting back into the Pakistan squad. He, like Talha, has played only one Test for Pakistan, in which he failed to pick up a wicket. Sohail put his poor debut down to fitness concerns and said the camp had helped him grow stronger. “Many players have faced similar situations in the past, but the coaches at the camp are helping me get fully fit through various useful methods. I am now 100% fit to play international cricket.”Sohail also said he could benefit from the recent rule-change in ODIs mandating the use of two new balls, one from each end. “I have been bowling a lot faster with a new ball. In fact, I have always preferred to use a new ball, as reverse swing has never been one of my priorities.”Pakistan’s next assignment is a tour to Zimbabwe beginning in August after which they host Sri Lanka in the UAE. Sohail, who was the leading wicket-taker in the recently concluded Faysal Bank Super Eight T20 Cup, and Talha, who had an impressive first-class season, will both be on the selectors’ radar.

Amjad Ali struck a fifty and a century as UAE beat Bermuda in the two Twenty20 matches at the National Stadium

Cricinfo staff13-Jul-2010
ScorecardUAE were stretched by a robust batting performance from Bermuda chasing 179, but prevailed by 21 runs in the first of two Twenty20 games in Hamilton. Amjad Ali was aggressive at the top after UAE elected to bat, and smashed three fours and as many sixes in his 53 to launch his side to a big total. Saqib Shah kept things rolling from the other end as the opening stand raised 67 in under eight overs. Offspinner Rodney Trott and seamer Kevin Tucker brought Bermuda back into the game during the end overs, but UAE had enough momentum to reach 178, with Saqib Ali and Arshad Ali making crucial contributions.Bermuda began their chase positively, with Chris Foggo striking a six before being stumped off Shadeep Silva. David Hemp and Steven Outerbridge gave their side a strong chance at victory, adding 57 in 53 balls before Arshad Ali brought UAE back in the game. He finished with 2 for 22, as Bermuda lost too many wickets and fell out of the reckoning. Outerbridge remained unbeaten on 43, and despite Jordan DeSilva’s 18 off 12 balls, UAE prevailed easily in the end.
ScorecardWhile UAE had to earn their win in the first game, the second match was a walk in the park once again masterminded by Amjad. He went one better than his fifty earlier in the day and finished with a fluent 105 off 61 balls with eleven fours and five sixes. The bulk of UAE’s runs came during Amjad’s second-wicket stand with Swapnil Patil – 117 runs in 12 overs. Bermuda recovered towards the end of the innings, with Outerbridge taking three wickets including that of Amjad’s to deny UAE a score in excess of 200, but sufficient damage had already been done.Bermuda were never in the hunt after losing Hemp in the first over. Fiqre Crockwell and Outerbridge kept attacking during their second-wicket stand of 53, but the innings unraveled once the left-arm spinning duo of Shadeep Silva and Ahmed Raza came on. Their seven overs yielded only 29 runs while accounting for five wickets as Bermuda suffered a resounding defeat.

The Sri Lanka pair is currently recovering from injuries

ESPNcricinfo staff09-Aug-2024The Sri Lanka pair of Wanindu Hasaranga and Nuwan Thushara will not be available to play for St Kitts & Nevis Patriots in CPL 2024. Both players had suffered injuries during the recent white-ball series at home against India.Patriots have signed Tabraiz Shamsi and Anrich Nortje as replacements for Hasaranga and Thushara.While slinger Thushara was ruled out of the entire series with a finger injury, Hasaranga played all three T20Is and the first ODI before being sidelined with a hamstring injury.Related

• CPL 2024 FAQs: New team, new players, new intrigues

• South Africa call up Under-19 World Cup star Maphaka for West Indies T20Is

• Thushara out of India T20Is with broken finger

Nortje is yet to make his CPL debut but Shamsi is a familiar name at the league, having played 32 games, including 27 for Patriots. Shamsi has taken 33 wickets in those matches for Patriots at an economy rate of 7.06.Nortje and Shamsi will reunite with their South Africa team-mate Tristan Stubbs at Patriots. The side had finished last in CPL 2023, with just a solitary win in ten games.

St Kitts & Nevis Patriots squad for CPL 2024

Kyle Mayers, Tabraiz Shamsi, Rilee Rossouw, Evin Lewis, Sherfane Rutherford, Sikandar Raza, Anrich Nortje, Andre Fletcher, Tristan Stubbs, Dominic Drakes, Mikyle Louis, Odean Smith, Joshua da Silva, Veerasammy Permaul, Ryan John, Ashmead Nedd, Johann Layne

Headed by Aqib Javed, the Qalandars management will take the cricketing decisions for Nationals in the upcoming season

Umar Farooq16-Jun-2023Toronto Nationals have entered into a deal with the two-time PSL champions Lahore Qalandars to outsource their coaching staff headed by director of cricket and head coach Aqib Javed to lead the franchise in the upcoming Global T20 [GT20]. While Aqib’s appointment has been formalised, the rest of the support staff’s appointment awaits a final ratification from Cricket Canada. The team had also picked four Pakistani players – Shahid Afridi, Zaman Khan, Saim Ayub, and Abdullah Shafique – in the recent draft.”We are excited about our association with Lahore Qalandars,” Nationals CEO Manzoor Chaudhry said. “Cricket being a global sport is proliferating and connecting cricketing communities together. They won the PSL title twice and contributed a lot in Pakistan with their player development program and with such credibility, their assistance will be invaluable. So it’s an incredible opportunity for us to rope them into Canada to manage our team. We are looking forward to forging a long-term deal in the future.”The deal will see the Qalandars’ team management taking all cricketing decisions for Nationals. Apart from Aqib, full-time bowling coach Waqas Ahmed, fielding coach Shahzad Butt, and performance analyst Nabeel Edgar Pace will also be involved according to the terms of the contract between Qalandars and Nationals.Related

• Clash between SL Tests and GT20 Canada set to affect Pakistan players availability

• Russell, Gayle and Shakib among marquee names drafted at GT20

Former Australia fast bowler, Geoff Lawson was Nationals’ head coach the last time GT20 was held in 2019. They made it to the playoffs only to crash out in the Eliminator. In 2018, they finished bottom with Phil Simmons as head coach.”We are thrilled to be a part of the GT20 here in Canada and assisting Toronto Nationals with setting up the roster and providing them our full coaching staff in the upcoming season,” Lahore Qalandars owner, Sameen Rana said. “In our responsibility, we will help the franchise to achieve their winning ambitions in the league. The deal is a first of a kind and it is initially for a season and we will see how it goes.”For us, it could also serve as a talent scouting on some unseen players from associates countries. Who knows we could find another Tim David out of another associate country who outshines and become a part of a bigger cricket ecosystem.”The GT20 returns after a four-year gap. The first two seasons took place in 2018 and 2019, but following payment disputes and the Covid pandemic, the league has not been held.The tournament has since undergone a revamp, with the title holders Winnipeg Hawks and Edmonton Royals not part of the competition anymore. Their places have been taken by Surrey Jaguars and Mississauga Panthers. Each team has included two marquee players and three Canadian players from the national side, as well as three emerging Canadian players, and four players from Associate countries in their roster of 16 at a cost of US $579,500.The GT20 will resume on July 20, with the final scheduled for August 6.

Home side take handy first-innings lead despite being reduced to 129 for 7

ECB Reporters Network08-Apr-2022Rob Keogh and Gareth Berg rescued Northamptonshire with a century stand for the eighth wicket to give their side the edge against Gloucestershire at Wantage Road. The pair came together with Northants stumbling towards a sizeable first-innings deficit after James Bracey’s hundred had engineered the visitors’ recovery to 223 all out.Wicketkeeper Bracey showcased his all-round skills with five dismissals as Gloucestershire reduced their fellow LV= Insurance County Championship Division One newcomers to 129 for 7 in reply. But Keogh, who compiled his 12th first-class ton before falling for 113, shared a partnership of 137 with Berg, who made 66, to guide Northamptonshire to 288 – and there was still time to make inroads second time around, with the West Country side closing on 5 for 1, a deficit of 60.Resuming on 77 not out overnight, Bracey found a capable ally in Naseem Shah – the Pakistan international frustrating Northamptonshire’s bowlers while his partner steered the total towards 200. Successive cover boundaries off Ben Sanderson brought Bracey his century and he followed that up with a savage six over long-off, prompting Naseem to start cutting loose at the other end.A series of productive blows against Keogh extended the ninth-wicket partnership to 80 before the spinner finally got his man, Emilio Gay judging a skier perfectly to take the diving catch at mid-off.James Bracey played pretty much a lone hand for Gloucestershire•Getty Images

Bracey holed out to Nathan Buck in the next over – but he was soon back in the thick of the action, donning the gloves to take a thin edge from Ricardo Vasconcelos in the third over of Northamptonshire’s reply. That was the first of a trio of early wickets for Ryan Higgins, who then collected two in three balls as Ben Curran and Saif Zaib fell to slip catches to leave the home side wobbling at 24 for 3.Gay appeared to have weathered the storm, only to depart on the stroke of lunch and, despite losing a further three wickets in the afternoon, Northamptonshire rattled along at a lively four an over. Bracey accounted for all three, two of them sharp low catches to dismiss Lewis McManus and Tom Taylor, but Berg was reprieved when Higgins’ no-ball nullified his mistimed pull into midwicket’s hands.The veteran allrounder took full advantage with some bold strokeplay, turning the tide as he and Keogh got on top of the bowling and shepherded their side beyond Gloucestershire’s total. Keogh went to three figures with an all-run four off Higgins and, although a misjudged sweep off Zafar Gohar eventually accounted for Berg, he advanced to 113 before Ben Charlesworth had him caught in the slips.

Captain says both Rohit and Ishant could’ve been in rehab in Australia to be ready for Test series

Nagraj Gollapudi26-Nov-20202:15

No idea why Rohit wasn’t on the flight to Australia – Kohli

India captain Virat Kohli has said that the entire episode surrounding Rohit Sharma’s injury has been “very confusing”, exacerbated by a “lot of uncertainty and lack of clarity”. Speaking on the eve of India’s ODI series opener against Australia, Kohli said that ideally both Rohit and fast bowler Ishant Sharma should have been in Australia to complete recovery from their respective injuries which would have allowed them to play in the Test leg of the tour.Both players were ruled out of the first two Tests of the four-match Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which is scheduled to start with the day-night Test in Adelaide on December 17.ALSO READ – Monga: Rohit injury debacle – Should we get used to players prioritising IPL over bilateral series?Speaking on the situation around Rohit’s injury, Kohli said that initially the senior batsman was ruled out when the squads for Australia tour were picked in October.”Before we had the selection meeting in Dubai, we had got an email two days before that, which said that he is unavailable for selection [as] he has picked an injury during the IPL,” Kohli said at the virtual media briefing on Thursday in Sydney. “And it mentioned there was a two-week rest and rehab period. The pros and cons and the implications of the injury has been explained to him and he understood that. And he was unavailable for selection. That was the information we got on mail before the selection meeting. After that he played in the IPL, so we all thought he would be on that flight to Australia, which he wasn’t. And we had no information whatsoever on the reason on why he is not traveling with us.”Rohit Sharma injury timeline•ESPNcricinfo

Having sat out four matches for the Mumbai Indians during the league phase of the IPL, Rohit made a successful return and made a half-century in the final to help the Mumbai Indians clinch an unprecedented fifth IPL title. However, he was not part of the Indian contingent that flew directly from Dubai to Sydney on November 11.Instead, Rohit returned to Mumbai to cater to what ESPNcricinfo understands were personal reasons. Last week he flew to the National Cricket Academy (NCA) in Bengaluru to work on his fitness. Incidentally, BCCI president Sourav Ganguly had told , an Indian magazine, that Rohit had been “70% fit”.According to Kohli, the Indian team management was recently informed that Rohit would be next “assessed” on December 11 at the NCA, six days before the first Test. “And after that the only other information officially we have received on mail is that he is in the NCA and he’s been assessed and he’ll be further assessed on December 11. So from the time that the selection meeting happened to the IPL finishing now, when this email came about his assessment at the NCA, there has been no information, there has been lack of clarity. We have been playing the waiting game on this issue for a while now, which is not ideal at all. So, yeah, it’s been very confusing. There has been a lot of uncertainty and lack of clarity around the situation.”‘Would’ve been helpful if Rohit and Ishant did rehab in Australia’
Kohli also agreed that it would have been ideal for both Rohit and Ishant to complete their rehab in Australia, similar to wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha’s case. Saha, who was originally named in the Test squad, hurt both his hamstrings in the first week of November, while playing for the Sunrirsers Hyderabad in the IPL. However, the selectors retained Saha after receiving the nod from the BCCI’s medical team, which was confident that he would regain fitness in time for the Test series, where he is one of the two wicketkeepers along with Rishabh Pant.”Yeah, [it] definitely would have increased the chances of both of them playing Test matches,” Kohi said. “Someone like Saha, who also had an injury during the IPL and is here and doing rehab with the team, so we are aware of his progress and he is on the right path to make sure that he is fit and available in time to play the Test series. And same would have been the case with Ishant and Rohit as well – it would have given them a chance to get themselves fit and be available for the start of the Test series.”Yeah, right now there is so much uncertainty on whether they are going to be able to make it, if they are going to be able to make it at all or not. It definitely would have been very helpful in them getting fit if they were here and doing the rehab just like Saha is with the team to get fit for the Test series.”