Ollie Robinson doubtful for India Test

The concern over Ollie Robinson's fitness continues as the England seamer receives a pain-killer injection in his back and is expected to be out of action for at least two more weeks.

The 28-year-old was supposed to play for the County XI against New Zealand earlier this month. But, he had to pull out of the four-day match due to an injury.

He felt a stiffness in his back during the warm-up before the start of the match. The saga continued as he tested positive for Covid-19, which delayed the recovery of his back injury and ruled him out of the first two Tests of the three-match series against New Zealand. 

He suffers another setback to his recovery; the Sussex pacer will miss his County's next Championship game against Glamorgan. It was supposed to be his final opportunity to prove his fitness and be available for the third Test in Headingley.

Sussex's next County Championship match is on June 26th, which might be too late for Ollie Robinson to prove his fitness and play the fifth and final rescheduled Test match against India on July 1st.

Robinson, who took 28 wickets at 19.61 last summer, has failed to do justice to his talent by being out of action more often than not, with off-field issues and regular fitness concerns. After doing well in the first three Tests in Australia, he missed the Sydney Test and had to leave in between. 

He was supposed to lead the pack for England in the absence of Anderson and Broad in the Caribbean. But he returned home without appearing in a single Test due to a recurrence of his back spasms. 

Ollie was further forced to miss most of the Championship action for Sussex during the early part of the summer.

England already have a bunch of pacers on the sidelines due to injuries. Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes, Saqib Mahmood and Matt Fisher are all out injured. And when Ollie Robinson was supposed to be England's long-term plan, his fitness saga continues to annoy the English Cricket fraternity.