Story by
Soham Mukherjee
Fri, July 17, 2026 at 4:22 AM UTC·7 min read
Rohit Sharma walked back to the dressing room in Cardiff on Thursday after managing just 26 runs off 47 deliveries, and that laboured innings might end up being one of his final acts in an Indian jersey
According to The Indian Express, the selection panel has already settled on not retaining him as the team’s automatic pick to open the batting once this England assignment concludes
Advertisement
CLICK HERE TO MAKE YOUR BET WITH DAFABET
If we go by that report, Sunday’s series-closer at Lord’s could turn out to be the last time the 39-year-old pulls on the national colours
India’s innings folded for 233 in the second match, with Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer the standout performers, striking 65 and 66 respectively to hold the innings together. Once again, England’s fast bowlers found joy off the surface, troubling India’s batting order with extra bounce, a recurring theme through this tour
Is Rohit Sharma set to retire at Lord’s?
It is suggested that the Lord’s ODI could be his final ODI game for India. He has already retired from Tests and T20Is, so in a way, it could be his time to hang up his boots, at least from international cricket
Advertisement
Earlier reporting had already flagged that both the coaching staff and selectors were keen on giving Yashasvi Jaiswal extended opportunities to prepare him for the 2027 World Cup in South Africa, and that Rohit’s continued involvement hinged heavily on how he performed in this series
Instead, the management chose to persist with Rohit a little longer, hoping he could rediscover his old touch
That call has since been passed on to the BCCI, and it remains to be seen whether senior board officials step in to speak with Rohit directly, or whether the selection committee handles that conversation themselves
However, a decision on Rohit’s cricketing future beyond this tour is entirely his own call, including whether he continues in the IPL come 2027. Should the selectors leave him out of the ODI setup, there would be little competitive cricket left for him to fall back on, which could push him toward calling time on his own
Advertisement
A similar sequence played out during the Border-Gavaskar series in Australia, when he was keen to feature in the Test matches but was informed that his place wasn’t guaranteed, and he subsequently opted to retire from that format himself
Who will replace Rohit Sharma in ODIs?
India’s talent pool will ensure that a seamless transition takes place when Rohit is left behind
Yashashvi Jaiswal is already waiting in the wings, and the Mumbai cricketer will likely replace Rohit in the 50-over format
Rohit Sharma ODI record
Rohit Sharma has a stellar ODI record as he has scored over 11,00 runs in 286 matches. He currently has a batting average of 48.58. and has hit 33 centuries and 62 half-centuries
Record | Stats |
|---|---|
Matches | 286 |
Runs | 11,757 |
Batting average | 48.058 |
Strike Rate | 92.76 |
Centuries | 33 |
Half-centuries | 62 |
Highest score | 264 |
Double centuries | 3 |
150-plus scores | 8 |
Rohit Sharma’s career highlights
Whatever happens next, Rohit’s body of work in the 50-over format speaks for itself, particularly his knack for converting hundreds into monumental totals
Advertisement
His breakthrough 150-plus score arrived against South Africa in Kanpur back in October 2015, an innings of 150 off just 133 deliveries that still ended in a narrow five-run defeat for India. He has since crossed the 150-run mark on eight separate occasions, a tally unmatched by any other ODI batter
His first double century followed in November 2013 against Australia in Bengaluru, where he compiled 209. A little over a year on, he produced the innings that cemented his place in cricketing folklore, an unbeaten 264 against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens in November 2014, still the highest individual score in ODI history
MORE: Visit Cricket News for all the latest cricket coverage and opinion
A third double hundred came in December 2017, again against Sri Lanka, this time in Mohali, where he finished on 208 not out. No other batter has managed three ODI double centuries
Advertisement
His World Cup record stands out too: five hundreds in the 2019 edition alone, the most by any player in one tournament, and seven centuries across all his World Cup appearances, a mark he shares jointly with Sachin Tendulkar
He also holds the record for most sixes in international cricket across all formats, with 656, comfortably ahead of Chris Gayle’s 553. Only Virat Kohli has reached 10,000 and 11,000 ODI runs quicker than Rohit has managed
How fans and experts reacted to retirement speculation
Aakash Sharma believes that the time is right for Rohit to step down as his current performances do not reflect his high standards
Advertisement
“Let’s be fair, it’s not like the statistics are very bad. One thing has definitely changed, his playing style has changed a bit,” Chopra said on his youtube channel
“Now he plays slower; earlier when he was the captain, he used to hit a lot, continuously keep going, but now he has started playing a bit slower. But again, that’s the second part of the story. The first story is that no matter how beautiful a story is, it has to end someday
“So maybe this is that time and the selectors have told him that we are going somewhere else. Maybe it’s Yashasvi Jaiswal’s time to come. So this is it, this is it. I mean, that’s one way of looking at it.”
Abhishek Nayar was on commentary while the news broke out and he said: “Jitne in selectors ke total milake runs nahi honge, utne uske T20 aur test mei hai, ODI ko to bhool jao. (He has more runs than all the selectors combined in Tests and T20Is, leaving aside ODIs). He isn’t going anywhere without playing 2027 World Cup.”
Advertisement
Indian batting coach, Sitanshu Kotak, said in a post-match press conference: “There is no pressure on Rohit Sharma, he is too big a player.”
Rohit’s former teammate, Dinesh Karthik, said on commentary: “I don’t know whether it’s true or not, but if Devendra Pandey posted it, there might be some truth to it. Still, the same question remains: Why is it always Rohit Sharma? What was his fault this time? He looked in good touch, spent time at the crease, and didn’t go for an attacking approach early on: Eactly what selectors wanted. Now that he’s doing it, they seem to have a problem with that too.”
@sehajdhillon_ wrote on X: “Never seen Kohli and Rohit sit together in the dressing room like this. Kohli’s looking concerned seems like the Rohit retirement news is actually true and he knows.”
Whereas, @VijayCricketFan wrote: “If the news is true, then BCCI please announce it before the match and give Rohit a proper farewell at least. The last proper farewell for an Indian player I remember was Ashish Nehra almost 9-10 years ago.”
Meanwhile, journalist Vikram Gupta said: “If the selectors have made up their mind to move on, Rohit Sharma should accept the decision; he is a legend and insisting ‘I will play’ won’t achieve anything.”
BEST ODDS AND OFFERS
CLICK TO BET
