The BCCI has finally tried to to put water into the fire and clarified why Rohit Sharma didn’t travel to Australia with the team, hours after Indian captain Virat Kohli complained about the “confusion and lack of clarity” over the limited-overs vice-captain’s selection.

“Rohit Sharma had to come back to Mumbai after the IPL to attend to his ailing father. His father is now recuperating well and that has allowed him to travel to the NCA and start his rehabilitation,” BCCI Secretary Jay Shah said in a statement after Kohli expressed his displeasure over the lack of information on Rohit’s fitness.

“He (Rohit) is presently undergoing rehabilitation at the NCA. Mr Rohit Sharma’s next assessment will be conducted on December 11th following which the BCCI will have clarity on his participation in the upcoming Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia,” the statement read.

Rohit, who was initially left out of all the three Indian squads for the Australia tour, was included in the team for the four-match Test series. He will miss the limited-overs part of the tour due to an injury he suffered at the recently-concluded IPL.

However, it came to be known last week that the 34-year-old would not be able to take part in the opening two Tests of the series. His participation in the next two Tests has been put in dark as well.

“Before the selection meeting, we got a mail that he is unavailable, that he has picked up an injury during the IPL. It said that the pros and cons of the injury were explained to him and he understood and he was unavailable,” Kohli said.

“After that (the selection meeting) he played in the IPL and we all thought he would be on that flight to Australia and we had no information on why he is not travelling with us. There has been no information, there has been lack of clarity.

“We have been playing the waiting game,” he added.

“The only other information we got is that he is in NCA and he is being assessed and he will again be assessed on 11th December. It’s not ideal at all. It’s been very confusing and a lot of uncertainty and lack of clarity around the situation,” the skipper’s irritation was palpable

It is understood that the “confusion”, which Kohli talked about, has been caused by the BCCI cricket operations team. It is also learnt that BCCI president Sourav Ganguly will request Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley to ensure that Rohit, if he goes, can undergo soft quarantine which will allow him to train during the 14-day isolation period.