The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has firmly dismissed ongoing media speculation regarding former India captain Rohit Sharma’s future in ODI cricket. BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia clarified that the upcoming match at Lord’s will not be the veteran’s final appearance in the format.
Speaking to news agency PTI, Saikia strongly quashed reports suggesting that the opening batter is set to retire from ODIs during the series decider against England on Sunday.
“There are a lot of speculations going on in the media about Rohit Sharma’s future. I want to firmly assert that there has been no such discussion that Rohit will be playing his last match at Lord’s on Sunday,” Saikia stated.
SAIKIA DOES NOT COMMIT TO 2027
The statement comes in the wake of widespread reports claiming that the national selection committee and head coach Gautam Gambhir are looking to transition towards younger players with an eye on the 2027 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup. The 39-year-old’s position had come under intense scrutiny following modest returns in the first two games of the ongoing series.
However, Saikia emphasised that the retirement reports are untrue, though he stopped short of committing to Rohit’s presence for the 2027 ODI World Cup.
“Rohit is a regular member of the Indian ODI team and he will continue to represent the country as long as he is in the scheme of things. In other words, the Lord’s ODI won’t be his last match,” the BCCI Secretary added.
With the three-match series currently poised after matches at Edgbaston and Cardiff, India will take on England in the final ODI at Lord’s on Sunday, July 19, with the reassurance from the board that their skipper is staying put for now.
HOW DID THE NEWS OF RETIREMENT SPREAD?
The speculation of Rohit Sharma’s retirement spread after Indian Express reported that the Indian team management did not have the veteran opener in their plans going into the ODI World Cup 2027. The management instead wanted to give a long run to Yashasvi Jaiswal, who had been waiting in the wings of the ODI team.
“The selectors have informed Rohit that he does not figure in their scheme of things after the England tour,” Indian Express had cited a board source. “He wanted to continue, especially after working on his fitness. The selectors have left the ball in Sharma’s court.”
Former India cricketer Deep Dasgupta also reflected on Rohit’s batting in the previous ODI, suggesting that the ex-India captain looked mentally burdened during his innings.
“I just thought that mentally it just seemed like there was no clarity,” Dasgupta observed on the live broadcast. “The hallmark of his batting has always been the clarity of thought… But somehow I just got a feeling that he wanted to shift gears but couldn’t. Those nine dot balls put him under a little bit of pressure, and then it’s just that clarity wasn’t there.”
ASHWIN SLAMS TEAM MANAGEMENT
The day after reports emerged that India wanted to move on from Rohit, former spinner Ravichandran Ashwin slammed the Indian team management for not providing clarity to the veteran opener. Ashwin stressed that if the management wanted to move on from Rohit, they should have communicated that decision to him at the end of the 2025 Champions Trophy, not midway through 2026, when he had already started putting in significant work to prepare for the 2027 ODI World Cup.
Ashwin also hinted that the lack of communication was not an isolated incident, suggesting that his own retirement was a byproduct of poor communication from the Indian team management.
WHAT HAPPENS TO ROHIT SHARMA?
The former India captain is going through a blip in form. If he fails in the 3rd ODI, the Indian selectors might take the harsh call of dropping him from the Indian team. And then it would not matter if he is retired or not retired.
The Indian modern day great has played 287 ODIs for India, scoring 11,757 runs at an average of 48.58, including 33 centuries. If he does not play after Lord’s, he will finish his ODI career as the seventh-highest run-scorer in the game’s history.
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