India team skipper Rohit Sharma has been ruled out of the rescheduled fifth Test against England to be played from Friday as he is affected by Covid-19.
Rohit underwent a rapid antigen test Test on Thursday morning and tested positive for Covid-19. The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named Jasprit Bumrah as captain for the upcoming Test and Rishabh Pant as his deputy.
The fifth and final Test against India will take place from July 1 onwards in Edgbaston. The rescheduled match is a part of last year’s five-match Test series that had to be delayed after the fourth Test due to a COVID-19 outbreak in the Indian camp. India lead the series 2-1.
India are on the brink of securing their first Test series victory in England since 2007. However, they face an England side riding high on momentum under the new leadership of coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes.
They swept New Zealand – the reigning ICC World Test Championship winners – 3-0 at home. India will only have played one warm-up match against Leicestershire heading into the Test. England have adopted a high-risk, high-reward strategy under McCullum and Stokes, a move that helped them secure convincing victories against New Zealand.
India’s Test squad: Jasprit Bumrah (Captain), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant (vice-captain) (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohd Shami, Mohd Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Mayank Agarwal.
England has also announced the playing XI for the fifth Test.
England Men’s Team v India: Alex Lees, Zak Crawley, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow, Ben Stokes (c), Sam Billings (w), Matthew Potts, Stuart Broad, Jack Leach, and James Anderson.