India veteran Rohit Sharma brushed aside the speculation surrounding his retirement and immediate future after the ODI series against England. The 39-year-old found himself at the centre of attention following a disappointing outing in the second ODI at Cardiff.
Reports had claimed that the England series could be Rohit’s last in international cricket, with the Lord’s ODI being projected as a potential farewell. However, the experienced opener answered those claims with a magnificent century in the series decider, although India eventually fell 27 runs short in their chase of 388.
Speaking about the speculation surrounding his future, Rohit said after the England series (via BCCI.TV):
“My job is with the bat, represent my country and the team. I’ve been told to do that since my debut and that’s what I am going to do going forward. The noise, since I made him debut was there. And till the time I am going to stay here, it’s always going to be there.”
He further added:
“So it doesn’t really matter too much and what matters is what I do on the field. My focus is only to contribute to the success of the team. Let the noise be there. If there is no noise, there is no fun. My job is inside and their job is outside. That’s how I look at it.”
Rohit became the first Indian batter to score an ODI century at Lord’s, putting the speculation surrounding his immediate future to rest.
“It Was Good to Share the Crease With Him” – Rohit Sharma on Virat Kohli
Rohit Sharma reflected on his productive partnership with Virat Kohli during the third ODI against England at Lord’s. The experienced pair stitched together a fluent 113-run stand for the second wicket in just 86 balls, keeping India firmly in the chase of the daunting target.
However, Rohit’s dismissal for a superb 138 proved to be a turning point, as the remaining batters struggled to maintain the required scoring rate and India eventually fell short.
“We’ve played our entire career together. It was nice to have him in the middle and it’s always fun batting together. We understand each other so much and it’s always nice bouncing off ideas in the middle. So we had a lot of conversations in between when we were batting,” said Rohit (via the aforementioned source).
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