While the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup is coming very close, the Indian cricket team is fighting a tough battle against the fitness issues. Recently, Indian head coach Ravi Shastri has revealed that the Indian all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja missed the Perth Test due to the shoulder injury.
As the off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin was injured prior to the second Test of the ongoing four-match Test series at the new Pert Stadium (Optus Stadium) that India lost by 146 runs, Jadeja was included in the 13-man squad. However, the left-arm spinner and left-handed middle-order batsman Jadeja hadn’t been included in the playing XI for the Perth Test and the Indian team management has been criticised for it.
Though Jadeja featured in the game as a substitute fielder in both the innings, now the head coach has claimed that Jadeja has a fitness issue after landing to Australia but he had some stiffness when he was in India.
Shastri recently claimed during a media conference, “Problem with Jadeja was that he had taken an injection four days after coming to Australia because of some stiffness in his shoulder.
“It has taken a while for that injection to settle down. He had some stiffness when he was in India as well but he did play domestic cricket after that. Then he felt the same on coming here to Australia and he was injected.”
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Shastri admitted that Jadeja’s recovery has taken longer time than they expected. According to Shastri, as Jadeja was 70%-80% fit during the Perth Test, they didn’t take the risk. The head coach further added that Jadeja will feature in the upcoming third Test at Melbourne, starting on December 26, if he will fit at least 80%.
Shastri said, “It (Jadeja’s recovery) has taken longer than we expected and we wanted to be careful. Last thing you want is someone breaking down after 5-10 overs and then we would be stuck for players to pick for Melbourne and Sydney.
“So, looking back at Perth, we felt he was 70-80 per cent fit and we didn’t want to risk him in the second Test. If he is 80 per cent fit here (Melbourne), he will play.”
Shastri added that fitness is the biggest concern of the team. He also added that Ashwin’s fitness evaluation will be done soon.
The Indian head coach said, “Fitness (is the biggest concern). We will have to evaluate fitness in the next 24-hour period, take it one step at a time and also consider the conditions. We will evaluate Ashwin over the next 48 hours.”
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Rohit Sharma missed the second Test due to lower back-injury while the all-rounder Hardik Pandya has missed the cricket for more than three months after suffering a back injury.
While Shastri claimed that Hardik is fit for the next Test, he further added that Sharma has shown good improvement but he has been needed thorough evaluation before giving the fit certificate.
“Rohit Sharma looks good and has made a very good improvement but we will see how he pulls up tomorrow. He looks good as of today. Hardik Pandya is fit,” said Shastri.
When Shastri was asked whether they are thinking Hardik Pandya for the Melbourne Test, he replied that they will be careful before taking the final decision on him for the next game.
Shastri added, “Pandya coming here gives you an option (of playing five bowlers) but he has not played much first-class cricket. He has just played one game after injury so we have to be very careful before we actually decide whether he plays or not.”
