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Legendary India opener Rohit Sharma has finally opened up on the reports of his retirement from ODI cricket. Retirement speculation surrounded the former India skipper throughout India's ODI series against England, with the chatter growing louder before and after the series decider at Lord's.
However, speaking on BCCI.tv after the match, the India opener made it clear that he remains focused on contributing to the team's success and is not bothered by the outside noise surrounding his future.
Rohit Sharma shines with a stunning century at Lord's, but India lose the series
Rohit answered the retirement talk in the best possible manner with the bat. Chasing a daunting 388-run target at the Home of Cricket, the veteran opener produced a magnificent 138 off 110 balls, smashing 17 fours and five sixes at a strike rate of 125.45.
Alongside Shubman Gill (77), Rohit Sharma stitched together a 147-run opening partnership to keep India firmly in the chase after England had posted 387/3, courtesy of Ben Duckett's 141, Jacob Bethell's 91 and Joe Root's unbeaten 74.
Rohit Sharma reached his century in just 84 balls, celebrating the milestone with a simple fist pump before acknowledging the dressing room and his family in the stands. His innings finally ended in the 39th over when Jacob Bethell bowled him for 138, and although Virat Kohli contributed 74, India eventually finished on 360/7, falling 27 runs short as England sealed the three-match series 2-1.
Despite the defeat, Rohit's innings created history. He became the first Indian batter to score an ODI century at Lord's and the oldest Indian to register an ODI hundred. The knock was also his 46th international century as an opener, the most by an Indian opener. Notably, he used Shardul Thakur's bat to play the iconic innings at Lord's.
Rohit Sharma addresses ODI retirement speculation after Lord's century
During his interaction on BCCI.tv, Rohit Sharma addressed the constant discussion surrounding his future. The former India captain said outside opinions have been part of his career since his international debut and insisted that his only focus remains performing for the team whenever he takes the field. He said:
"Look, my job is with the bat, come and play, represent my country, represent the team. That's what I've been told to do since I made my debut. So that's what I'm going to do, you know, the noise since I made my debut was there.
"And till the time I'm going to stay here, it's always going to be there. So it doesn't really matter too much. What matters is what I do on the field, try and contribute to the success of the team. That's all my focus is right now. And let the noise be there, you know. If there's no noise, there's no fun. My job is inside, their job is outside. So that's how I look at it."
"A little disappointed with the result" - Rohit Sharma on England ODI series loss
While Rohit Sharma was pleased with his own contribution, he admitted that India were disappointed to lose the series after beginning it with an impressive win at Edgbaston. He also urged patience with India's relatively inexperienced bowling attack, which was without several key players during the decider. Speaking about the 2-1 series defeat, Rohit said:
"A little disappointed with the result because I thought we were playing really good cricket, you know, how we started in Birmingham. We played some really good cricket. We fell a little short at Cardiff with the bat actually. It was not enough score on the board. And then here again, there was a massive total to chase. We tried everything we could with the bat, but again, fell 20-25 runs short with the bat.
"Again, it's, you know, when it comes to bowling, you've got to understand these guys haven't played a lot of ODI cricket. You've got to give them some time. But yeah, hopefully we can learn from this game, take it into our stride, make sure when we come across a situation like that, we try and better ourselves."
