Rohit Sharma, the Mumbai Indians (MI) captain, returned from an injury layoff for the franchise’s final IPL 2020 league stage clash against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) – and raised a few eyebrows.

Sourav Ganguly, the BCCI president, had stated earlier on Tuesday that Rohit is currently injured and both MI and BCCI physios are monitoring his hamstring injury, which resulted in him being left out of India’s squads for their upcoming tour to Australia. But within hours of Ganguly’s comments being published, the opening batsman walked out to lead MI against SRH.

Rohit Sharma is back!

He will captain #MI against #SRH tonight.#IPL2020 pic.twitter.com/m4beP4zQvt

— Wisden India (@WisdenIndia) November 3, 2020

“Rohit is injured at the moment. Otherwise, why would we leave out a player like him? He is the vice-captain of the national (limited-overs) team,” Ganguly told PTI. “We will have to assess him. I don’t know (when he can come back). He hasn’t played so far since the time he has got injured. We want him to recover. It’s the BCCI’s job to get their best players on the park. If he recovers, he plays.

“The Mumbai Indians physio is working with him. The Indian physio [Nitin Patel] is there. Rohit himself knows that he has got a long career ahead and it’s not just this IPL or next series for him. I am sure he is mature enough to do what is best for him. I can tell you that things you do easily at the practice might be a bit of struggle during a match situation. The muscles react differently to pressure situations.”

Rohit’s sudden return left many intrigued and wondering as to why BCCI and MI’s assessments of his injury are in complete contrast.

Rohit Sharma has made the story of the day even before the match started by walking out for the toss. I suppose India’s selectors — who had left him out of all 3 squads for Aus tour — will be on hotline with each other and the BCCI medical team!

— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) November 3, 2020

Rohit Sharma at the toss! Yes there is a qualification at stake but this is huge news. All eyes on him and his fitness

— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) November 3, 2020

India coach Ravi Shastri, on November 1, had told Times Now that Rohit “could be in danger of injuring himself again if he is not careful”, which further complicates the matter.

Rohit Sharma is back

BCCI president S Ganguly & coach Ravi Shastri have said that Rohit suffered a hamstring tear & should rest so that he doesn’t ‘aggravate’ the injury

By playing today Rohit has made it clear that HE IS FIT & NOT INJURED

What kind of tamasha is this?!
🤔

— Sushant Mehta (@SushantNMehta) November 3, 2020

#Rohit is back ?? Wasn’t he left out of India squad because of injury? Today he is playing which means he is fit … What’s happening guys? Fill me in.. Am I missing something here ? #RohitSharma #MIvsSRH

— Mikkail Vaswani (@MikkhailVaswani) November 3, 2020