Jasprit Bumrah will be captaining India in the Edgbaston Test against England, the BCCI confirmed on Thursday (June 30). Regular captain Rohit Sharma, who was a doubtful starter, underwent a RAT Test on Thursday morning and returned a positive result for Covid-19 and has been ruled out of the vital clash as a result.
Bumrah was the frontrunner to lead the national side in the postponed Test match from the moment Rohit got sidelined due to Covid-19, as reported earlier. A vice-captain wasn't named for the tour by the selectors ever since KL Rahul was ruled out.
Even though the chances of Rohit making it to the game appeared to be slim with the 35-year-old running out of time, the management was willing to wait until the end to see if he returns a negative test result a day before the game. With the opener not recovering, Bumrah will now become the first pacer after Kapil Dev to lead India in a Test match.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Rishabh Pant, who led India in the recently-concluded T20I series at home against South Africa, has been named Bumrah's deputy. India also will have to take a call on their opening combination now that Rohit has been ruled out. With both the regular openers now ruled out, Shubman Gill is likely to slot in as one of the openers. Mayank Agarwal was recently drafted into the squad and Cheteshwar Pujara stands a chance of returning to the XI as well. India are currently leading the series 2-1 after four Tests.
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
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