Jasprit Bumrah to lead India in place of Rohit Sharma

Jasprit Bumrah will be in charge of the Indian team for the fifth Test against England at Edgbaston. Bumrah will be leading the national team for the first time with Rishabh Pant to be the vice-captain.

India captain Rohit Sharma has not fully recovered from the COVID-19 infection he contracted during a warm-up game in Leicester the week before the Edgbaston Test against England. As a result, the chances of Sharma leading India in the Edgbaston Test against England have taken a serious hit.

"Mr Rohit Sharma, Captain, Indian Cricket Team is ruled out of the rescheduled fifth Test against England to be played from Friday," a BCCI release said. “Rohit underwent a RAT Test on Thursday morning and returned a positive result for COVID-19. The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named Mr Jasprit Bumrah as captain for the upcoming Test and Mr Rishabh Pant as his deputy."

Both teams have a lot riding on the outcome of the Edgbaston Test, as it is a part of the ICC World Test Championship and significant points are up for grabs. The current standings see India in third place after a strong performance thus far. In the meantime, England is coming into this Test match after having previously beaten New Zealand by a 3-0.

Bumrah's time to shine

Bumrah made his first appearance in a Test match in 2018, but he has already established himself as one of the most valuable players for India when playing with the red ball. Although he has only participated in 29 tests, he is already the captain of the pace attack and now sits in third place in the MRF Tyres ICC Test Bowler rankings.

During India's one-day international (ODI) portion of their tour to South Africa, Bumrah captained the team in Sharma's absence. He also served as Sharma's deputy during the Test and T20I series against Sri Lanka. He would also make history by becoming the first pacer since Kapil Dev in 1987 to lead India in Tests.

"It is a big achievement, big honour. It was my dream to play Test cricket. It is a big achievement that I have gotten the honour to lead the country. It is the biggest achievement of my career. I am very happy,” Bumrah said.

Tough decisions

According to a recent report by Cricbuzz, the national selectors and team management decided to wait until the very last minute before making their decision.

India will suffer a significant setback as a result of Sharma's absence. In addition to his role as captain, Sharma had great form throughout the previous year's first part of the series. He scored 368 runs, including a hundred in the fourth test match, and led the team to a victory.

The Indian team also has a tough decision to make about who will be on the second opener with Shubman Gill. Mayank Agarwal and KS Bharat could both be good choices, but Mayank Agarwal has a slight advantage.

The BCCI flew in Agarwal, but head coach Rahul Dravid said that the No. 3 could be moved up to the opening spot, which would mean that Cheteshwar Pujara would move up the batting order as well.