Former Indian cricketer and current Indian head coach Rahul Dravid has tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of much-awaited India vs Pakistan game of Asia Cup 2022 on August 28th. His participation in India vs Pakistan Asia Cup 2022 match remains doubtful.
The Rohit Sharma-led Indian cricket team is scheduled to kick start their Asia Cup campaign with a meeting against their arch-rivals on August 28th.
The Indian head coach was given some time away from the action ahead of the Asia Cup as former Indian cricketer VVS Laxman replaced him as India’s coach for the tour of Zimbabwe. Earlier, Laxman had also accompanied with the Indian side to England, while Rahul Dravid was with the senior team in England.
While it remains to be seen whether Dravid will be available for the much-awaited match, Laxman looks like the best bet to step in for the legendary cricketer.
“Rahul Dravid has tested positive for COVID-19 and is currently in isolation. We are still hopeful that he will recover soon and might join the team in due course,” a senior BCCI official told PTI on the conditions of anonymity.
“We haven’t taken a call on whether VVS will be going to Dubai from Harare or not. A call will be taken accordingly and if required, he will join. Till then Paras Mhambrey will be in-charge. All other members are fit and left for UAE early in the day”, he also confirmed.
Meanwhile, the majority of the Indian squad has already left Mumbai on Tuesday morning, however, vice-captain KL Rahul, Deepak Hooda, and Axar Patel will travel from Harare, after successfully finishing the ODI series.
It has to be noted that the Indian side is without the services of their ace bowlers Jasprit Bumrah and Harshal Patel.
India Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), KL Rahul, Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Deepak Hooda, Dinesh Karthik, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan.
Standby: Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, Deepak Chahar.
