India and England are gearing up for their rescheduled fifth Test which is slated to be played from July 1 at Edgbaston. Meanwhile, as per reports the timings of the rearranged Test has been preponed as England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has decided to start 30 minutes early as compared to their normal Test matches timings because of the viewers from the Indian subcontinent.
The red ball matches in England start around 11 AM (local time), and 3:30 PM (IST) but the India-England fixture will start by 10:30 AM. This means that the first ball of a day will be bowled at 3 PM as per Indian timings with stumps to be called at 10 PM IST.
The rescheduled fifth Test will act as a decider for the five-Test series that started in July 2021. India were leading 2-1 and before they could take on England in the fifth Test in Manchester, their contingent was hit with a series of COVID-19 cases and eventually the match was deferred. Both Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) and the England Cricket Board (ECB) mutually decided to reschedule the fifth Test in 2022, where India were already scheduled to play white-ball fixtures.
In a major jolt to Team India, skipper Rohit Sharma has tested positive for Covid-19 right ahead of the rescheduled Test against England which is slated to be played from July 1 at Edgbaston, as Board of Control for Cricket India (BCCI) confirmed the development on Sunday's morning, following the end of Day 3 of the ongoing warm-up game between India and Leicestershire.
The 35-year-old Indian skipper is expected to open the innings alongside Shubman Gill in the Test match and his participation would now depend on result of his RT-PCR test and recovery.
KL Rahul, however, will miss the tour this time because of a groin injury, which had also ruled him out of the series against South Africa. His absence opened the door for Gill to open for India.
India's tour of England also comprises three T20Is and as many ODIs, and the visitors will play two warm-up matches against Derbyshire and Northamptonshire before the white-ball series.
India’s squad for the rescheduled fifth Test vs England:
Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Rishabh Pant (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Srikar Bharat (wk).
