BIRMINGHAM (Reuters) – India captain Rohit Sharma has been ruled out of the rescheduled fifth test against England beginning on Friday and seamer Jasprit Bumrah will lead the side instead, the touring team said on Thursday.
Rohit was doubtful for the clash since he tested positive for COVID-19 during a warm-up match in Leicester last week.
He had a Rapid Antigen Test on Thursday and returned a positive result, which snuffed out his chances of playing in the match at Edgbaston.
India faced a leadership crisis with vice-captain KL Rahul also missing the match to have surgery for a sports hernia in Germany.
Bumrah will lead the side with wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant as his deputy, the team said in a statement.
Mayank Agarwal has joined the squad as cover but India have yet to decidie who will be Shubman Gill’s opening partner in Rohit’s absence.
Coach Rahul Dravid has said they have two more options in stumper-batsman KS Bharat and top order batsman Cheteshwar Pujara.
India are 2-1 up in the series which could not be completed last year because of COVID-19 cases in the India camp ahead of the final match at Old Trafford.
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Ken Ferris)
