India head coach Rahul Dravid has confirmed that Rohit Sharma is not yet ruled out of the rescheduled fifth Test against England. In the pre-match press conference, Dravid said that the 35-year-old has still 36 hours to go to recover from the virus. Dravid revealed that he will get tested later tonight followed by another one tomorrow.
Wait continues for Rohit
“He’s being monitored by our medical team. He has not yet been ruled out. He needs to get the negative tests to be available. So we’ll keep monitoring that, as we still got those 36 hours or so to go,” Dravid said ahead of Edgbaston Test.
“We’ll have a test later tonight as well and maybe one tomorrow morning as well. And then we’ll see obviously, he’ll have to come out of that and it’s really up to the medical team and the sports science team to decide on that,” he further added.
As Dravid is still banking on Rohit to recover from the virus, he did not answer questions over India’s stand-in captain if he has not regained match fitness.
Bumrah not confirmed as captain yet
There were reports of vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah taking over as captain and becoming the first Indian fast bowler to lead the team in 35 years after Kapil Dev.
Dravid remained tight-lipped over the new captain's appointment and said that the Chairman of selectors Chetan Sharma will take a call on it.
"As to the answer to your next question (whether Bumrah would be captain), I think it is probably better that the communication comes officially from the official sources. I am not sure whether Chetan (Sharma) is but you know, once we have exact clarity on Rohit then I think you will hear from official sources. It is not for me to give out official communication," the 49-year-old refrained from answering the burning question.
Who will be back-up opener?
Dravid talked about India’s options of back-up opener if Rohit’s Test does not return negative. While he was not convinced with Mayank Agarwal walking into the side straightaway, he listed out veteran Cheteshwar Pujara and Srikar Bharat, who is yet to make his Test debut. Bharat scored scored 113 runs in the warm-up game against Leicestershire including a half-century.
Kohli's form not a concern
On being asked about former skipper Virat Kohli’s form, Dravid said he is not concerned about him not being able to get to three figures. He wants a match-winning innings from Kohli. Also, Dravid said that Kohli has been a leader, is a leader and will continue to be in future as well.
