Why is Rohit Sharma not on the field on Day 3 of India vs England 5th Test?

Indian captain Rohit Sharma hasn't taken the field on Day 3 (Saturday, March 9) of the ongoing Test against England in Dharamsala. According to an update from BCCI on their social media handle, Rohit had a stiff back which is why he wasn't seen on the field.

Here's what BCCI wrote on X (formerly Twitter):

"UPDATE: Captain Rohit Sharma has not taken the field on Day 3 due to a stiff back."

Vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah is the stand-in skipper in Rohit Sharma's absence. He also captained the Indian team in the one-off Test against the same opposition two years ago in Edgbaston, when Rohit missed out after testing positive for COVID-19.

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Jasprit Bumrah leading India well in Rohit Sharma's absence

The hosts added four more runs to their overnight score of 473/8 before being bowled out and had a massive lead of 259 to play with. Jasprit Bumrah started with the new ball but decided to hand it over to Ravichandran Ashwin for the second over from the other end instead of Mohammed Siraj.

The move worked well as Ashwin picked up the wickets of Ben Duckett, Zak Crawley, and Ollie Pope. Just when Jonny Bairstow decided to go after Ashwin, Bumrah brought Kuldeep Yadav into the attack, and that did the trick as Kuldeep got the dangerous right-hander.

Ashwin was brought back into the attack in place of Ravindra Jadeja and he cleaned up Ben Stokes on the stroke of Lunch. Almost every change that Bumrah has made in the morning session has worked well for India and it speaks volumes about why the team management has made him a part of the leadership group.

England are in all sorts of trouble at 103/5 at Lunch and still trail by a massive 156 runs. They are in danger of an innings defeat and the hosts will try to get the game wrapped up today.

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