If the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) wasn’t going to move on Rohit Sharma, how did the rumours of his international retirement emerge? After an underwhelming knock in Cardiff, the journalist who broke the news of Rohit getting dropped from the Sydney Test during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 in Australia and his Test retirement in May 2025 wrote about him retiring after the India vs England ODI series.
Further reports emerged that Rohit’s parents had arrived in London for the Lord’s ODI on July 19 and that the management and selectors had informed the veteran batter about their desire to move on from him. However, BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia came out and refuted any claims of Rohit retiring.
Agenda against Rohit Sharma?
So, how did this come out? For a fire, there has to be some smoke. Journalists, especially those of some repute and credibility, don’t spin a web of lies. Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra wonders whether someone’s trying to run a campaign against Rohit and planting stories. The question is, what are the intentions? Is someone trying to put him under pressure? Or the BCCI? Or the management and selectors?
“Is someone planting these stories? Is there a campaign against him? It doesn’t look like Rohit will retire. He had already said he wants to play the 2027 ODI World Cup. He said, ‘Look at my fitness, the effort I’m putting in, and doing the hard yards.’ So, who are these people starting these rumours? He was removed as captain in 2025 because the selectors wanted to go in a different direction. It was clear that if Rohit made runs, he would be part of the ODI team. So, what’s going on? Is someone planting these stories?” Aakash said.
Too early to take call
Regarding Rohit’s future, Aakash believes that the opener can stamp his authority by smashing a hundred at Lord’s. Although he had struck a half-century against Australia in the 2025 ODI series, some were still critical of him, and he silenced the doubters with an unbeaten hundred in Sydney. If he does something similar, all the debates will end again.
Rohit has outrightly stated that he wants to play in the ODI World Cup 2027. Yes, Yashasvi Jaiswal is breathing down his neck, but Aakash thinks the selectors and management can give a long rope to the former India captain considering the Men in Blue will play about 40 matches until the ICC event in South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
“If he scores a hundred at Lord’s, as he did in Australia last year, then the conversations will end. The World Cup is 1.5 years away. There’s no hurry to take the decision right now. You have 40-odd ODIs left. This is not his last international match,” he added.
