Rohit Sharma clears fitness test at NCA, set to return and lead India against West Indies

Mumbai, January 26: Rohit Sharma on Wednesday (January 26) has passed the fitness test conducted at the NCA, Bengaluru, and is all set to return to the field and lead India against the West Indies in the ODIs and T20Is next month.

Rohit had missed the entire tour of South Africa with an injury, and was recuperating at the NCA.

Ravindra Jadeja’s fitness report is also awaited to be considered for the home series against the West Indies, begins on February 6 with the ODI’s at Ahmedabad. The T20Is will be played at Kolkata.

Rohit will meet the national selectors in Bengaluru in the evening to have the team selection discussion. Pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah might get a breather after featuring in 3 Tests and as many T20Is against South Africa and in that case Mohammed Shami will get his place back in the white ball formats as senior pacer.

The fitness of Mohammad Siraj too will be watched closely but R Ashwin is certain to miss the ODIs and T20Is due to a niggle that he suffered during the series against SA.

All-rounder Shardul Thakur too might be rested for at least one format, though that is a close call. It has been widely speculated that dashing Tamil Nadu batsman Shahrukh Khan might get a chance in the T20I squad while Axar Patel and Washington Sundar, the spin all-rounders, too will return to the limited-over squads.

Sundar was expected to go to South Africa but had to cancel the trip after testing Covid-19 positive.

Rohit 3rd in ICC ODI Ranking

India opener Shikhar Dhawan, the leading scorer for India against South Africa with 169 runs, has moved up one place to 15th in the list led by Pakistan captain Babar Azam with Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in second and joint-third positions, respectively.

India wicketkeeper batsman Rishabh Pant is up five places to 82nd after a reasonable ODI series against South Africa.