The Indian cricket team is currently on a tour of Australia. But their star opener Rohit Sharma's hamstring injury, he sustained during the IPL 2020 League stage, became a matter of controversy. Firstly, Rohit did not get a place in the team for the tour of Australia, but later he was selected for the Test squad. Rohit Sharma recently broke silence on his injury for the first time and said that this is not a serious issue.
ALSO READ | Glenn Maxwell Responds To Virender Sehwag's '10 Crore Cheerleader' Comment On Him
"I told them [Mumbai] 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.
"Hamstring is feeling absolutely fine. Just started the process of getting it nice and strong. Before I play the longer format, I needed to be clear in mind that there is no stone left unturned. That's probably the reason I'm at the NCA."
"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 playoffs. If there is any discomfort, I won't be playing the playoffs."
"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 six games in 11 [12] days.
"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."
Sharma also touched upon his leadership at Mumbai Indians. The five-time champions, he said, were not created overnight.
"Yeah, we have a [Kieron] Pollard, a Hardik [Pandya], [Jasprit] Bumrah, but has anybody thought why this team is successful?
"Lot of people, I hear say that can he [Sharma] do it with other teams? Firstly, why shall I need to do it with other teams? There is a certain way this franchise wants to go and same direction I want to go as well, both as a player and leader.
"Did this team become good overnight? No. It's just that this franchise doesn't believe in chopping and changing. And every player, including Rohit Sharma, was available at [the 2011] auctions. Just that MI picked and believed in building a team."
"We were sitting in our team room and I could feel he was dejected. But I didn't go and speak to him. It was he who came up and said, 'Don't worry I will get over it and win the matches for MI'. When he said that I also realised he is heading in the right direction, not only in terms of IPL but also in his overall career. There are a lot of India games and his time will come."