IND v AUS 2020: 'The biggest surprise was that even Virat Kohli said he didn't know what's happening'

Former opener Aakash Chopra has expressed his surprise at the fact that Indian captain Virat Kohli was not aware of Rohit Sharma's injury status.

He made this observation while answering fan questions in a video shared on his YouTube channel.

Aakash Chopra stated that the Rohit Sharma injury fiasco could have definitely been handled better when asked about the same. He also demanded greater transparency from the BCCI in such situations:

"One hundred percent. Transparency is all we need."

The reputed commentator observed that the Indian fans are not direct stakeholders when it comes to franchise cricket. He added that even Sunil Gavaskar has a similar opinion on the subject.

"There is a distinction. I have had a discussion with Sunny bhai about this and he also said this that we are not stakeholders of a franchise. We are fans but franchise cricket is totally different."

The 43-year-old pointed out that the Mumbai Indians cannot be blamed if they did not want to share Rohit Sharma's injury details.

"They keep the information with themselves and do not tell anyone and you can't hold them accountable. We can only like or dislike that but we do not have any say. So, if there is no news from there then no problem."

However, the former KKR player questioned the BCCI for not being transparent on the issue as the Indian team physio Nitin Patel was in the UAE during IPL 2020 and would have been aware of Rohit Sharma's injury status.

"But because Rohit Sharma is an Indian team player and Nitin Patel was in Dubai, so the information would have been exchanged somewhere. So it should have come out, it should have reached everyone transparently."

Aakash Chopra expresses surprise about the Indian team management not being aware of Rohit Sharma's injury status

Rohit Sharma last played in the IPL 2020 finals on November 10 [Picture Credits: iplt20.com]

According to Aakash Chopra, what was weirder was the fact that even Indian captain Virat Kohli was unaware of Rohit Sharma's availability status for the Australian tour.

"The biggest surprise was that even Kohli said that he didn't know what is happening. If the captain doesn't know, then you can forget about us. Because in general we used to say that we are not aware but the insiders, the people who matter, know about it."

Aakash Chopra signed off by observing that it might be the first instance where the team management is also in the dark about such a situation. He then reiterated that a greater degree of transparency is definitely required.

"It seems it was the first time that even the insiders didn't know what is happening just like us. Of course, that matter deserved and demanded a lot of transparency in terms of just the information flow in and out which did not happen and that could have been avoided."

Rohit Sharma is expected to undergo a fitness test on December 11, based on which his availability for the Test series against Australia will be decided. Even if he is deemed fit, he is unlikely to be available before the Sydney Test as he may have to serve the quarantine period in Australia.