'Ben Stokes wouldn't mind if Virat Kohli leads India in Rohit Sharma's absence': Graeme Swann ahead of Edgbaston Test

Graeme Swann said current England captain Ben Stokes wouldn't mind if Kohli leads India in Birmingham as it would provide him the ideal scenario to compare his leadership with that of Joe Root who was the skipper of England when India toured here last year.

Rohit Sharma's positive Covid-19 result in the Rapid Antigen Test has thrown uneasy questions in front of the Indian team management ahead of the fifth Test against England in Edgbaston, Birmingham. The biggest one being who would be leading India if Rohit doesn't recover in time? Rohit still has four days to regain full fitness - BCCI confirmed his positive result in the early hours of Sunday - before the Test begins on July 1, but it will be a race against time. And India know that. Their decision to fly in Mayank Agarwal as a cover on Monday is proof of that. While Mayank can fill the opener's gap, the captaincy question remains. Former England off-spinner Graeme Swann believes Virat Kohli can be an option if Rohit does fail to recover on time.

Will Virat Kohli be Ben Stokes' counterpart for the Edgbaston Test? (Getty)

Swann said current England captain Ben Stokes wouldn't mind if Kohli leads India in Birmingham as it would provide him the ideal scenario to compare his leadership with that of Joe Root who was the skipper of England when India toured here last year.

"You could say why not let Virat Kohli finish off the things he started and sort of have a final hoorah. Whether Virat would want to do that, I don't know. I don't think England will really mind. Maybe, if you think about Ben Stokes... He would quite like Virat Kohli to be captain then he could directly compare to how Joe Root's team played against Virat Kohli's," Swann said while replying to a Hindustan Times query in a select media interaction organised by Sony Sports Network ahead of the England series.

Unlike most of their Test squads, India haven't announced a designated vice-captain for this 'fifth Test' against England which is taking place almost a year after it was cancelled due to Covid-19 concerns. It was Kohli, who led India to a 2-1 lead before the fifth Test was postponed, and while the former skipper, who is India's most successful Test skipper, remains an option it is unlikely that he would take up the role. After all, he had voluntarily stepped down from the position after a 1-2 defeat to South Africa earlier this year.

That leaves India with two or maybe three viable options. The first one is Jasprit Bumrah. Apart from the fact that Bumrah picks himself in India's Test XI, the right-arm pacer was the designated vice-captain in the home series against Sri Lanka in KL Rahul's absence.

The other option is obviously Rishabh Pant, who recently led India in the five-match T20I series against South Africa. Where Pant might edge Bumrah is the fact that the left-handed wicketkeeper-batter has much more captaincy experience than him. Pant has led Delhi Capitals for two seasons, has led India in T20Is, and also has experience of leading Delhi in the Ranji Trophy. Swann agreed that it might not be a bad idea to consider Pant for the leadership but he was quick to add his expectations of seeing a fit Rohit walk out to lead India on Friday.

"We saw a lot of the New Zealand players getting Covid but they recovered really quickly so I'm hoping Rohit would do the same and lead India," he added.

"England won't be too worried about who is India's captain. They would be looking to put as much pressure as possible on the Indian batting unit and bowl them out. When we used to play against the Indian team, they had some great names, we always used to worry about how to get them out cheaply, it was never about who is captain."

Watch the LIVE coverage of the much anticipated fifth Test between England and India on SONY SIX (English), SONY TEN 3 (Hindi) channels starting from 1st July at 3:30 pm IST.