Australia vs India: Rohit Sharma quarantining in a two-bedroom apartment in Sydney

Indian batsman Rohit Sharma, after all sorts of hassles due to his hamstring injury, landed in Australia around a week ago for the ongoing Test series against Tim Paine and Co. The 33-year-old was included for all the four Tests but was later ruled out of the first two games in Adelaide and Melbourne. During this while, he underwent rehab at the National Cricket Academy in Bengaluru.

The veteran is available for selection for the third and fourth Test respectively. For the time being, Rohit is confined in a two-bedroom apartment in Sydney where he is serving his mandatory 14-day quarantine period. To make things worse, Rohit hasn’t started training yet.

Rohit Sharma has the pressure of performing, says Varanashi

Mental conditioning coach Partha Varanashi talked about the difficulties that a player has to go while quarantining. He also understands the role a batsman of Rohit’s class has to play in the absence of skipper Virat Kohli.

“He has all these 2 weeks of quarantine, preparing himself going into that moment of truth (the 3rd Test), Then again, everyone else is going out training and he is not doing that and plus he has that pressure of performing because he is an important batsman,” Varanashi was quoted as saying in Sports Today.

“So, all of this comes into play when he has to perform, so mental conditioning is very important for athletes. Physical conditioning is focused on a lot but mental conditioning gets let up,” he added.

Rohit made his Test debut back in November 2013, but it took him nearly six years to make a big impact. During the 2019 home series against South Africa, the Nagpur-born was promoted as an opener and he responded with a double century in Ranchi. Apart from the purest format, Rohit has weaved magic in ODIs and T20Is, scoring over 11,000 runs with 33 tons and 43 half-centuries.

As far as the ongoing series is concerned, India have had a torrid time, losing the Day-Night Adelaide Test by eight wickets. The visitors’ batting faltered after being restricted to 36 in the second innings. The second Test gets underway on Saturday, December 26 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.