Rohit Sharma's fitness: BCCI medical team to decide on November 1

Bengaluru, October 31: A medical team of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) will assess Rohit Sharma on Sunday (November 1) and take a final call on whether or not the star batsman is fit enough to travel with the Indian contingent for the tour of Australia.

Rohit has not played in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 since tearing his hamstring in Mumbai Indian's match against Kings XI Punjab on October 18, which was decided in a Double Super Over.

As a result, he was not considered for any of the three squads for the tour Down Under which begins on November 27.

Rohit left out of Indian squad for Australia tour

KL Rahul was named as vice-captain of the One-day International and Twenty20 squads, a role which Rohit has been performing for a while.

However a lot of eyebrows were raised when videos of him training in the Mumbai Indians nets went viral on social media.

Former Indian captain Sunil Gavaskar criticised BCCI asking them to be more transparent on the matter.

Rohit Sharma omission: Sunil Gavaskar slams BCCI for lack of transparency

It is against this backdrop that BCCI has decided to take a final call on the matter on Sunday.

"Rohit (Sharma) will be assessed tomorrow and a call will be taken after that on whether he is good to go. As is the case with hamstring injuries, the real challenge is the sprints and the acceleration and deceleration process will be the focus to understand if he has recovered fully or will need a little more time," a BCCI functionary in the know of developments was quoted as saying by ANI news agency.

It is presumed that BCCI physio Nitin Patel had submitted a fitness report on Rohit that he needed rest for three weeks to recover from his injury.

The BCCI functionary, who spoke on conditions of anonymity to ANI, dwelled further about the nature of the Mumbaikar's injury and the recovery time required.

"The hamstring muscles come into play when a person needs to suddenly run a quick single or needs to stop fast and turn at the non-striker's end for a double. While you accelerate at the beginning of the sprint, you decelerate when you need to stop and turn. This is when the focus is 100 per cent on the functionality of the hamstring muscles. So, if you've recovered completely, you wouldn't have an issue in either acceleration or deceleration."

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Defending champions Mumbai Indians are the only team to have made it to the IPL 2020 play-offs so far.

In Rohit's absence, West Indies all-rounder Kieron Pollard is leading the side while his place at the top of the order has been taken by the left-handed Ishan Kishan.