Rohit Sharma not ruled out of Edgbaston Test as yet: Rahul Dravid

India head coach Rahul Dravid on Wednesday said Captain Rohit Sharma is not out of the Edgbaston Test as yet as the player is being monitored after returning with a second covid positive result.

The rescheduled fifth Test between India and England will go underway on Friday (July 1) in Birmingham. India lead the five-match Test series 2-1.

Rohit tested positive for covid during India's practice four-day game against Leicestershire. His mandatory five-day quarantine ended today (June 29) but the Indian skipper has not tested negative yet.

"So the update on Rohit is that he is being monitored by our medical team, he is not yet been ruled out," Dravid said in a virtual press conference on Wednesday.

"Obviously, he needs to get the negative test to be available. We will keep monitoring him, we have still got close to 36 hours to go so we he will have a test later tonight and one maybe tomorrow morning as well. We will see, it is really upto the medical team and sports science team to decide on that. We will keep monitoring," the former Indian cricketer added further.

It was earlier reported that Rohit is due to undergo two more tests: one today (June 29) evening and another on Thursday (June 30) - before the Indian team management takes a final decision on his availability for the Edgbaston Test.

Last year when India toured England for the five-match Test series, Rohit was the tourists' best batsman. He scored 368 runs in four Tests at an average of 52.57, including a century. He was only behind England's Joe Root, who was at the top of the runs chart with 564 runs at an average of 94, including three tons.

With KL Rahul out of the series with a groin injury and Rohit in doubt, Team India recently added opening batsman Mayank Agarwal to their Test squad.

When the BCCI announced India's Test squad for the England tour, they had named Rahul as Rohit's deputy. However, Rahul is currently ruled out and is recovering after undergoing surgery. While the BCCI has not officially announced who'll lead in Rohit's absence, fast bowler Jasprit Bumrah is the likely contender.

Bumrah was India's vice-captain during India's previous Test series, against Sri Lanka at home. The Indian team management has already informed Bumrah that he'll be the stand-in captain for the rescheduled fifth Test if Rohit is not given a green signal to play, according to news reports.

Notably, Bumrah has never led in any cricket, and this will be his maiden captaincy stint. He will also become the first fast bowler to captain India since Kapil Dev.

India squad for 5th Test against England: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Cheteshwar Pujara, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharat (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Shardul Thakur, Mohd Shami, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Mayank Agarwal.