Team India head coach Rahul Dravid insists that Rohit Sharma has not been 'ruled out' of the rescheduled fifth Test against England and could yet feature in the match that will be played from July 1-5.
Earlier, reports had claimed that Rohit, who had initially tested positive for Covid last week returned yet another Covid positive RT-PCR test on Wednesday. Dravid however revealed that the India captain will undergo another round of testing on Wednesday night, followed by one more test on Thursday morning.
Addressing the pre-match press conference ahead of India's one-off Test against the Three Lions, Dravid remained optimistic about Rohit's chances of featuring in the match.
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"He is being monitored by Indian team, Rohit has not been ruled out, we have still got 36 hours, so he will have a test later tonight and then in morning. It is upto medical team and sports science to take a better call," said Dravid when quizzed about Rohit's availability.
Moreover, the former Indian captain remained tight-lipped on who could lead India if Rohit were to miss the Edgbaston Test. He insisted that the official confirmation must come through the selectors.
"It is better that the confirmation to who is captain comes from official sources," said Dravid.
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Earlier, reports had claimed that Jasprit Bumrah would lead India, and in the process, he'd become the sixth Indian player to captain the national side in 2022. Talking about working with so many captains in his tenure, and how it has affected his plans, Dravid stated that it hasn't reflected on the results of Team India.
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"It is what it is. When I took this job, even I would have not predicted so many captains. There have been unfortunate injuries. Sometimes we have to balance out workloads of players. It is not something that you start off thinking you want to do but if situation arise, you react to them, and inspire of number of captains, we have played good cricket," added the 'Wall of India'.
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When quizzed about who will open the innings for India, if Rohit gets ruled out, the veteran didn't rule out any options, adding that Mayank Agarwal, KS Bharat could also be be considered, whilst a PTI report had earlier claimed that Cheteshwar Pujara and Hanuma Vihari were the two favourites to open the innings alongside Shubman Gill.
"Mayank is there. Bharat has opened for Andhra Pradesh. I would not want to give things away. But in our mind, we have our clarity, but I don't have liberty to disclose my playing XI," he stated.
