Rohit’s health? Ashwin or Jadeja? Extra batsman or bowler? Dravid says wait and watch

Heat is on and Rahul Dravid has began the thoughts video games. Two days earlier than the graduation of the fifth Test at Edgbaston, the Indian workforce head coach selected to provide away nothing, ostensibly to maintain the opponents on tenterhooks.

The buzz earlier than Dravid’s press convention on Wednesday was Jasprit Bumrah’s elevation as stop-gap captain, in Covid-affected Rohit Sharma’s absence. The head coach was requested in regards to the replace on Rohit and whether or not Bumrah can be main the aspect towards England. “Update on Rohit is that he is monitored by our medical team and we still got 36 hours to go. He is not yet ruled out. He will have a test tonight and in the morning to see if he is available. Of course, he will have to return negative to play the Test,” Dravid stated.

As regards to Bumrah main the aspect, he handed the buck to the choice committee. “It’s better that the communication comes from official sources. Once we have some clarity on Rohit, they will take a decision.”

Of course, Dravid and the Chetan Sharma-led choice committee are maintaining in contact over Rohit’s state of affairs, which is fluid. The former India captain has the stature and authority to call the skipper for the Edgbaston Test. But greater than attempting to be politically right or an absence of transparency, it seemed like pure thoughts video games, towards an England aspect which can be on an upward climb, recent from their 3-0 clean-sweep towards England. It’s a marquee sport and India, main 2-1, have an opportunity to safe a memorable collection win. From that standpoint, Rohit taking part in or not taking part in could make lots of distinction. Dravid most well-liked to maintain his playing cards shut.

It was just about the identical, when he was requested about India’s opening choices alongside Shubman Gill. From Mayank Agarwal, who has been flown in as Rohit’s cowl, to Cheteshwar Pujara and KS Bharat, the pinnacle coach talked about each out there possibility, lavishing reward on the gamers. He refused to learn an excessive amount of into England’s high-octane method underneath Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes, saying: “England played really well (against New Zealand). In a couple of situations when they were back to the wall, they fought their way through. (But) we have been playing very good and positive cricket over the last few years. We have to focus on our cricket and we have been pretty successful.”

A query on Virat Kohli was met with a robust backing for the senior batsman. Kohli is 33 years of age and hasn’t scored a global hundred over the past two-and-a-half years. “He is probably in my opinion on the right side of 30. He is an incredibly fit guy. He is one of the most hard-working guys I have come across. His desire and his hunger, the whole attitude to looking after himself. The way he played the game at Leicestershire; batting in those conditions, going out there and scoring the kind of 50s-60s he did. And he was keen on playing our bowlers, batting against Bumrah and all of these guys. He is ticking all the right boxes,” Dravid stated.

He added: “Players go through these kinds of phases. It’s not so much about focusing on those three-figures. Even a 70 on a difficult wicket, when he played in Cape Town (against South Africa last winter), I thought that was a very good innings. He didn’t convert it to three-figures but it was a very good score. Obviously, a guy like him and the standards he has set, people only see a hundred as a success, but from a coach’s perspective, we want match-winning contributions from him, whether that’s a fifty or a sixty or a seventy. From our perspective, it’s not a lot of focus on three-figures.”