The hullabaloo over his hamstring was confusing as well as amusing for Rohit Sharma, who says he always knew that the injury was not that serious and he would be battle-ready for the tour of Australia.
India's white-ball vice-captain, in a detailed conversation with PTI, opened about the left hamstring injury during the IPL, which became a matter of intense speculation after he returned to action within days of being left out of the Australia tour earlier this month. He was subsequently added to the Test squad.
"I don't know what was going on, to be honest and what all were people talking about. But let me put this on record, I was constantly communicating with BCCI and Mumbai Indians," Sharma said.
He hit a match-winning knock of 68 off 50 balls in the IPL final against Delhi Capitals, playing through pain. Sharma is currently doing strength and conditioning work at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru before heading to Australia.
"I told them (Mumbai Indians) that I can take the field since it is the shortest format and I will be able to manage the situation quite nicely. Once I made my mind clear, it was all about focusing on what I needed to do," he said.
"Hamstring is feeling absolutely fine. Just started the process of getting it nice and strong. Before I play the longer format, I absolutely needed to be clear in mind that there is no stone that is left unturned, that's probably the reason, I'm at the NCA," Sharma added.
For him, the chatter on the outside regarding his injury and his subsequent participation in the IPL play-offs, didn't matter much.
"So for me, it was not a concern what x, y or z was talking about like whether he would make it to Australia," he said.
"Once the injury happened, the next two days all I did was to figure out what I can do in the next 10 days – whether I will be able to play or not.”
Unless one goes to the ground, one won't know how the body is shaping up, said the five-time IPL champion captain.
"But every day, hamstring (degree of injury) was changing. The way it was responding was changing, so I was feeling quite confident that I could play and that is the communication that I had with MI at that point.
"I told them that I think I will be okay to play just before play-offs. If there is any discomfort, I won’t be playing the play-offs."
All Sharma needed was three and half weeks to get ready for Tests and he fails to understand what the fuss was all about given that the series starts on December 17.
"Of course, there is still some work that needs to be done on my hamstring. That's why I didn't go to Australia for the white-ball leg as there are back-to-back games. Around 6 games in 11 days," he said about the limited overs leg beginning on November 27.
"So, I thought if I get to work on my body for 25 days, I can probably go and play the Test matches. So, it was an easy decision for me and I don't know why it became so complicated for others," he said.
- PTI
