Rohit Sharma ruled out, Jasprit Bumrah to lead India against England in 5th Test match: In a big development ahead of the all-important clash between India and England, visiting skipper Rohit Sharma has been ruled out of the rescheduled 5th test match after testing covid-positive once again on Wednesday. Ace pacer Jasprit Bumrah will don the captain’s hat in Rohit’s absence.
Bumrah will be the first speed merchant in 35 years to lead India in the longest format of cricket. The last fast bowler to captain India in the test was Kapil Dev, who was removed from the captaincy in 1987.
It is noteworthy that Jasprit Bumrah is being groomed as the future captain for India in the longest format. India hasn’t seen many skippers who have been fast bowlers in the past, especially in the traditional format of cricket.
Earlier, it was expected that Rohit Sharma might recover from the covid and will be available for the test match, however, one more covid-positive report ruled him out of the contest against England.
“Rohit is out of this Test match, starting July 1, as his RT-PCR test has come positive again. He is still in isolation. Jasprit Bumrah, who is one of the vice-captains in absence of KL Rahul, will lead the team,” a senior BCCI official told PTI.
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Although team India drafted Mayank Agarwal into the side as a replacement opener for the test match, he is not likely to open the innings. As per the reports, Cheteshwar Pujara or Hanuma Vihari will get a chance to open the innings with Shubman Gill.
“Mayank is here just as cover. It is likely to be Pujara-Gill combination that is going to open the batting. There is an outside chance for Hanuma Vihari to open as he has done the job in a stop-gap arrangement in Australia during the 2018 series. But chances of Pujara opening are way more,” he said.
Team India’s probable batting attack would look like Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari and Rishabh Pant.
The only conundrum in front of the Indian management would be a choice between Shardul Thakur, who is a pace-bowling all-rounder, and Ravichandran Ashwin, who is spin a spin wizard with canny batting abilities.
Team India’s probable playing XI: Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Shardul Thakur, Mohammad Shami, Jasprit Bumrah (c), Mohammad Siraj.
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