Agarwal returns for India against England after Rohit tests positive for COVID-19

By Sports Desk June 27, 2022

Mayank Agarwal has been called up by India after captain Rohit Sharma tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of the rescheduled Test against England.

Rohit played in the first innings of the warm-up game against Leicestershire, scoring 25 before not batting in the second.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) subsequently confirmed the 35-year-old had contracted coronavirus on Saturday, just six days before the rearranged Test against England at Edgbaston starts.

Agarwal was initially left out of the squad, but an injury to KL Rahul and Rohit's isolation has opened the door for him to return to the Test side for the first time since March.

The 31-year-old managed just 59 runs in his last two Tests against Sri Lanka at home and endured a difficult Indian Premier League campaign, registering just 196 runs at an average of 16.3.

Agarwal looked likely to open when India travelled to England last year but suffered concussion before the opener, with Rohit stepping in and leading the tourists' scoring charts with 368 runs in eight innings.

That is the second-most runs scored by any batter in the series, which the tourists lead 2-1 with one match to play, but India will now face a resurgent England side under new leadership.

Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes have combined as the new coach and captain partnership, with England downing world Test champions New Zealand 3-0.

England completed the series whitewash over the Kiwis on Monday, easing to their 296 target at Headingley to become the first Test team to chase down 250 three times in a single series.

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

 

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