Indian captain Virat Kohli has hit out at the "very confusing" situation regarding star batsman Rohit Sharma, who remains at home with a hamstring injury.
Rohit suffered the injury while playing in the IPL on October 18, just over a week before he was left out of the squad to tour Australia.
However, on the day the squad was announced, Rohit's IPL team, the Mumbai Indians, released a social media video of the right-hander batting in the nets 'in full flow.'
Rohit subsequently returned for Mumbai, playing three matches earlier this month, and being added to the Indian squad for the Test series in Australia.
However, he remains in India, with ESPNCricinfo reporting earlier this week that he's been ruled out of the first two matches. He would also need to serve 14 days quarantine when, or if, he arrives in Australia.
Speaking ahead of the ODI series, which begins in Sydney today, Kohli said the ideal way to deal with the situation would have been for Rohit to complete his rehab in Australia.
"Before we had the selection meeting in Dubai, we had got an email two days before that, which said that he is unavailable for selection [as] he has picked an injury during the IPL," Kohli said.
"And it mentioned there was a two-week rest and rehab period. The pros and cons and the implications of the injury has been explained to him and he understood that. And he was unavailable for selection.
"That was the information we got on mail before the selection meeting. After that he played in the IPL, so we all thought he would be on that flight to Australia, which he wasn't. And we had no information whatsoever on the reason on why he is not traveling with us."
Rohit travelled to the National Cricket Academy last week to continue his recovery, with BCCI boss Sourav Ganguly telling Indian media that he was only 70 percent fit.
"The only other information officially we've received on mail is that he's at the NCA and he's been assessed, and he'll be further assessed on 11th December," Kohli explained.
"From the time that the selection meeting happened to the IPL finishing, and now when this email came about his assessment in the NCA, there's been no information, there's been lack of clarity and we've been playing the waiting game on this issue for a while now; which is not ideal at all.
"So, yeah it's been very confusing and there's been a lot of uncertainty and a lack of clarity around the situation."
India has been dealt a further blow, with paceman Ishant Sharma ruled out of the Test series, after suffering a side-strain during the IPL.
"Ishant has recovered completely from his side strain injury sustained during IPL 2020 in the U.A.E. While he's building up his workload in order to achieve Test match fitness, Mr Ishant Sharma has been ruled out of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy," the BCCI said in a statement.
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