How many matches has Rohit Sharma missed since taking over as full-time captain of Team India?

Team India captain Rohit Sharma. Pic: Getty Images

Team India suffered a massive setback a day ahead of the rescheduled Test against England in Birmingham as their skipper Rohit Sharma was ruled out due to COVID-19. The 35-year-old's participation in the match was in doubt once he returned a positive Test last week.

On Thursday, the BCCI named Jasprit Bumrah as captain and keeper-batter Rishabh Pant as vice-captain for the one-off Test against England after Rohit tested positive for COVID-19 again.

Releasing an official statement, the Indian cricket board said:

“Mr Rohit Sharma, Captain, Indian Cricket Team is ruled out of the rescheduled fifth Test against England to be played from Friday. Rohit underwent a RAT Test on Thursday morning and returned a positive result for COVID-19.”

The statement added:

“The All-India Senior Selection Committee has named Mr Jasprit Bumrah as captain for the upcoming Test and Mr Rishabh Pant as his deputy.”

NEWS 🚨 - @Jaspritbumrah93 to lead #TeamIndia in the fifth Test Match against England.

@RishabhPant17 will be the vice-captain for the match.

#ENGvIND https://t.co/ueWXfOMz1L

India will also be missing the services of KL Rahul, who was earlier ruled out of the Test due to injury issues.

Rohit Sharma - The missing captain

This is not the first time Rohit will be missing out on a game for India after taking over as full-time captain. Let’s take a look at some previous instances.

The Hitman first took charge of the T20I squad after being named captain for the New Zealand T20Is at home in November 2021. He was named T20I captain after Virat Kohli quit the post following the T20 World Cup. Rohit played all three T20Is as India whitewashed the Kiwis 3-0.

He was subsequently named captain for the ODI series in South Africa, which was played in January 2022. However, the 35-year-old missed all three matches of the one-day series due to a hamstring injury.

India were led by KL Rahul in the white-ball games and ended up being blanked 0-3. Rohit had earlier been ruled out of the three-match Test series as well, but Kohli was still the captain of the Test team.

Having recovered from injury, the Indian white-ball captain was available for six white-ball matches against West Indies at home as well as three T20Is against Sri Lanka in February 2022.

Rohit became the all-format Indian captain when he was named Test leader after Kohli quit the post following India’s series loss in South Africa. He led India in the two-match Test series against Sri Lanka at home in March 2022.

Rohit Sharma will be a big miss for Team India 😣🇮🇳

#India #TeamIndia #CricketTwitter #ENGvIND https://t.co/jlAtyhIYwn

The veteran batter featured in all matches of IPL 2022, leading the Mumbai Indians (MI). However, in India’s first assignment after the end of the T20 league, he was rested for the five-match T20I series against South Africa at home, which ended earlier this month. Rishabh Pant captained India in his absence.