"This is a serious problem" - Aakash Chopra on Rohit Sharma missing the ODI series against South Africa

Aakash Chopra believes Rohit Sharma missing matches due to fitness issues could be a long-term concern for Team India.

Rohit was appointed the Indian team's full-time limited-overs skipper after Virat Kohli opted to give up the T20I captaincy after the T20 World Cup. However, the the Mumbai Indians ace will miss the upcoming ODI series against South Africa due to a hamstring injury, with KL Rahul taking over the captaincy reins.

Aakash Chopra reflected on the development in a video shared on his YouTube channel and said:

"The biggest news is that there is no Rohit Sharma, he is still injured. This is a serious problem. It has been a long time now, he had in any case missed the two Test matches against New Zealand in India."

The cricketer-turned-commentator was dismayed that Rohit Sharma, who is not part of the Indian team for the ongoing Test series against South Africa, will also miss the ODIs. Chopra observed:

"Then he got an issue in his hamstring while practicing and this hamstring issue is a long issue, it is going on continuing. He has missed all three Test matches and will be missing all the three ODIs also."

Rohit Sharma has been repeatedly bothered by hamstring injuries. He had even missed a few matches of IPL 2020 and subsequently the first couple of Tests of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.

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"There will be a question mark on Rohit Sharma's fitness" - Aakash Chopra

Rohit Sharma is supposed to captain Team India in the T20 World Cup later this year

Aakash Chopra highlighted that Rohit Sharma, being the skipper, cannot afford to be frequently laid low by fitness issues. He elaborated:

"If Rohit Sharma is going to be the white-ball captain, which has already been decided, then there will be a question mark on his fitness. It might not be possible for a captain to always remain fit but he is missing too many matches because of fitness, that's not a good thing. That's something that both Rohit and the BCCI will have to keep in mind."

The 44-year-old concluded by stating that Rohit Sharma missing the ODI series puts to rest speculation of the genuineness of his injury. Chopra pointed out:

"Another thing was doing the rounds that Rohit Sharma does not want to play Test cricket. It has become final - Virat Kohli said he wants to play ODIs and Rohit Sharma had said he was genuinely injured - he is injured, that is why he didn't play the Tests and now the ODIs as well."

Indian cricket fans will hope Rohit Sharma addresses these fitness issues at the earliest. With the Mumbaikar expected to lead Team India in the T20I and ODI World Cups in 2022 and 2023 respectively, he will have to play a majority of the matches in the lead up to these tournaments.