Mumbai Indians skipper Rohit Sharma who has been struggling with a hamstring injury -- suffered in the game against Kings XI Punjab in Dubai last Sunday -- is a doubtful starter for the game against Rajasthan Royals at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Sunday. It is learnt that the management is looking at the next game against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday for the regular skipper to return as that would mean a 10-day break from the day of the injury.
With the Australia tour round the corner, Rohit's injury management is all the more important as he is now an integral part across all formats for the national team. In fact, a calf injury had seen Rohit return from the New Zealand tour at the start of the year. The injury took place during the fifth T20I and ruled him out of the Test series.
Commenting on Rohit's status, Mumbai Indians had before the game against Chennai Super Kings had said: "Rohit Sharma has suffered a left leg hamstring strain during Mumbai Indians' last outing. Rohit has made good progress over the last four days, while the management is taking one day at a time monitoring the recovery process in consultancy with BCCI. Rohit has been advised to rest for the match against CSK. Kieron Pollard will lead the team tonight."
Speaking at the toss, Kieron Pollard had said: "Rohit is struggling with his left hamstring and hopefully he will be fit soon and take the captaincy."
The comfortable win against CSK in the last game in Rohit's absence would have given the team management a further sense of relief and with MI sitting pretty at the top of the table with 14 points from 10 games, Mumbai can afford to give Rohit more time to recover from the hamstring strain.