Did Vijay rush return?

Chennai: When M. Vijay was named in India squad for the upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka, it came as a surprise for a few. The opener was still under rehabilitation, nursing his wrist after a surgery in London. He was out of action for almost three-and-a-half months and had missed the entire IPL season with the Dharamsala Test against Australia in March being his last competitive match.

Was the selection committee not aware of Vijay’s fitness or did the player try to rush his return is the question the Board needs to answer after it emerged on Monday that the opener hasn’t fully recovered yet to take the flight to Sri Lanka. Shikhar Dhawan has replaced Vijay in the 16-member squad for the three-match series starting on July 26. He last played a Test for India in 2016 against New Zealand in a home series. K.L. Rahul and Abhinav Mukund are the other openers in the squad.

As per the Board’s recently introduced policy, a player has to prove his fitness in a domestic match and report to the NCA physio in Bengaluru before returning to India squad.

In an effort to test his fitness, Vijay played a TNCA first division match for his employers Jolly Rovers last week and he was included in the team only after the player had told the team in-charge that he was more than 80 per cent fit.

Vijay just scored 20-odd in his comeback match as his team, the defending champions, suffered a shocking defeat.

BCCI secretary Amitabh Chaudhary said Vijay complained of pain in his right wrist while playing the preparatory match. “The BCCI medical team has therefore advised Vijay to continue his rehabilitation program,” he added.