India head coach Rahul Dravid has provided a big update on regular captain Rohit Sharma, saying that the 35-year-old opener has not yet been ruled out of the fifth and the final Test against England which begins in Edgbaston on Friday. Rahul Dravid, the legendary batter and the former chief of India's National Cricket Academy mentioned that Rohit Sharma's fitness is being monitored by a team of specialists and his availability in the Test would be subject to his COVID-19 test coming out negative. The India skipper had tested positive during India's warm-up game against Leicestershire and has been in isolation in his hotel room ever since.

“Rohit is being monitored by our medical team, he has not yet been ruled out,” Rahul Dravid said in a virtual press conference on Wednesday. “Obviously, he needs to get the negative test to be available. So we will keep monitoring that, we've still got close to 36 hours to go. He will have a test later tonight 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 sports science team to decide on that. We haven't had a chance to see him, since he is in isolation. But we will keep monitoring the situation. Everyone else is fit. Ash (Ashwin) had Covid but he pulled through really well. The medical team is happy with him. Once we get an update on Rohit, there will be an official communication in this regard,” Rahul Dravid added.

In Rohit Sharma's absence, bowling mainstay Jasprit Bumrah is likely to lead the Indian cricket team in the one-off Test against England in Birmingham, India Today reported.

Jasprit Bumrah was India's vice-captain during the South Africa Test series earlier this year and has been communicated by the team management that he will be their stand-in skipper in the match against England.

Notably, Jasprit Bumrah will be the first pacer after the legendary Kapil Dev to captain India in Test cricket.

Earlier, Jasprit Bumrah had received Harbhajan Singh and Mohit Sharma's backing. Both former India bowlers want to see Jasprit Bumrah lead the Indian team in the fifth and the final match of the series against England this weekend.

“I don't know how well you know Jassi (Jasprit Bumrah) but I know him very well. We played a lot of cricket together. He is a very cool and calm character,” Mohit Sharma told news agency ANI.

“On the field, he bowls aggressively but off the field, he is very calm and if he becomes a captain then the taboo of fast bowlers can’t become captain will not be there,” he added.

“Paaji (Kapil Dev) did for India if you look at other countries Pat Cummins has led Australia. So, if Bumrah becomes captain then it would be great for India,” Mohit Sharma concluded.

Interestingly, Jasprit Bumrah would be the sixth Indian captain in 2022, their highest number since 1959.

“It is what it is,” said Dravid. “When I took the job even I wouldn't have predicted that there would be so many captains in the last six-seven months. That happens, right? In the times that we are living in, with Covid, there have been some unfortunate injuries to people. Even here, it is quite unfortunate what has happened to Rahul and Rohit in the last three weeks for us. And sometimes we've had to balance out the workloads of people. So it happens.”

“Of course, it is not something you envisage when you first start off, but if a situation arises then you react to that, you deal with that. And in spite of the number of captains we have had, we have played very good cricket over the last six to eight months. Yes, obviously the South Africa Test series was probably the one I would have liked to have won after going one-up. But even there I thought we were not outplayed, we were very close in a lot of those games. We had a few unfortunate injuries and some of our main players were probably not available for that Test series,” Rahul Dravid explained.

“We are keeping our fingers crossed and hoping that we don't have to deal with these situations, but they seem to come up and we have to react. We are not fazed by it. We are clear about our communication with people. We know what is going to happen over the next few days. If something happens, we have got contingency plans and, within our group, within our team, we know what's happening. That's really important for us,” Rahul Dravid concluded.