Rohit Sharma replacement: Team India skipper Rohit Sharma might miss the upcoming rescheduled Test against England after testing positive for Covid-19.
India captain Rohit Sharma is likely to miss the upcoming Test against England after testing positive for Covid-19 on Saturday. His diagnosis was confirmed after he took a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT). The BCCI confirmed the development on Sunday morning.
According to a BCCI statement, “Rohit has tested positive in the Rapid Antigen Test in Leicester, England. His test was conducted on Saturday, June 25. He’s been placed under isolation with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) medical team supervising his health.”
Rohit Sharma’s replacement:
With less than a week remaining before the Test against England gets underway, Rohit Sharma’s participation in the match looks highly doubtful. The Test is scheduled to be played from July 1 in Birmingham.
In case Rohit fails to recover in time, the Indian team-management will have to look for a replacement. The visitors are already short on openers for the forthcoming game. KL Rahul has already been ruled out of the game due to a groin injury. As of now, Shubman Gill is the only designated opener in the team.
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If Rohit is ruled out of the game, stand-in opener Hanuma Vihari looks likely to replace him at the top of the order. Vihari is no stranger to opening the innings for Team India. He had opened the innings during the MCG Test against Australia in 2018. Vihari had only managed to score 8 and 13 on that occasion but had spent 80 minutes at the crease in the first innings, and nearly an hour in the second. His brave stay at the crease had helped Team India see off the new ball.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Srikar Bharat is an option too especially after his impressive display in the ongoing warm-up game. The right-handed batsman scored a fighting unbeaten fifty in the first innings before opening the innings in the second innings where he played a feisty knock of 43.
Bharat added 62 runs for the first wicket while opening the innings with Gill. Overall, he faced 209 balls in the game and looked very confident while batting in the testing conditions.