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Rohit Sharma Ruled Out Of Edgbaston Test

Rohit Sharma is set to miss the rescheduled Test match against England. Jasprit Bumrah will take charge of the Indian team after Sharma tested positive for Covid-19 virus. The Indian skippers’ absence will have a heavy impact on the Indian batting order.  The Men in Blue are already missing the likes of KL Rahul, who is nursing a groin injury. 

The 35 year old featured for the Indian team during their four-day warm-up against Leicestershire. However, he only batted in the first innings. With Rohit Sharma set to miss out on the Edgbaston Test, Rahul Dravid had called up Mayank Agarwal to join the team in England.

Rohit Sharma’s replacement a dilemma for Dravid

The Indian team management will have to feature a new opening pair for the one-off Test match. Citing the current situation of the Indian team, it would not be a surprise to see Subhmann Gill make it into the starting XI.

The young Indian batter has experience of the English conditions having opened the batting for India in the 2021 World Test Championship (WTC) final last year. The 22-year-old also batted twice in the recently concluded warm up game registering scores of 21 and 38. He will be eager to establish authority and rise to the occasion in the absence of senior openers with a solid outing in Birmingham. 

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Agarwal recently caught with the Indian team after he was called after Rohit Sharma was affected with Covid-19.  The Karnataka star joined the set up earlier this week and is available to feature in the 5th Test which begins on 1st July. However, the 31-year-old hasn’t had much time to get acclimatized with the conditions. It hovers the question whether he will make it to the playing XI.

Another option for Dravid and co is having KS Bharat open the innings with Gill. The wicketkeeper-batter seemed very comfortable at the top when he was tried as an opener in the second innings against Leicestershire. Bharat ended up scoring 70 runs in the first innings while managing 43 runs as an opener in the second innings.

The Karnataka batter also has prior experience of opening the innings. He has walked out to bat 77 times at the top in domestic cricket. Given the current situation, a Test debut for Bharat doesn’t seem to be far away. Dravid could also experiment by opening with Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma Vihari. The duo once opened the innings against Australia and could be the trump card the Indian team management opts to use in the 5th Test.

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