Dubai: In a major breaking news for Indian cricket, Rohit Sharma has confirmed that he has no plans to retire from ODI cricket after winning the 2025 Champions Trophy.
India skipper on Sunday dismissed the speculations about his career after winning the ICC Champions Trophy, saying that he is not quitting the ODI format anytime soon.
Since the tour of Australia, speculations were rife about Rohit’s future in the team as well as his position as captain but a match-winning 76 in the final against New Zealand has given him a new lease of life.
“I am not going to retire from this (ODI) format. Going forward please don’t spread rumours,” Rohit said at the post-match press conference after India beat New Zealand by four wickets to clinch the trophy.
India beat New Zealand by four wickets at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium, making Rohit the first captain since MS Dhoni to win two ICC titles. There was a ton of speculation in the lead-up to the final about the 37-year-old’s future. He already retired from T20Is last year, and the next ICC ODI tournament is the 2027 World Cup, when he’d be close to 40 years of age.
“I am not going to retire from this (ODI) format. Going forward please don’t spread rumours,” Rohit said at the post-match press-conference, as quoted by news agency PTI.
“No future plans. Jo ho raha hain, woh chalta jayega (Whatever is happening will keep continuing),” Rohit added.
Rohit had doubts over not just his future but also his present coming into the tournament. He was struggling for runs in Test cricket and couldn’t do anything of note in the group stage.
There were also calls from experts asking him to change his batting approach and tone down the aggression to bat longer. However, the skipper put all that to rest with his brilliant knock in the final.
He smashed 76 off 83 balls against the new ball to set the perfect foundation for the team in the 252-run chase. Gill could take his time and contribute a 31 on the other end, and despite quick wickets of the top-three, Shreyas Iyer and Axar Patel, too, didn’t have the run-rate pressure on them when they came to bat. Ravindra Jadeja finished things off with a four on the last ball of the 49th over.
“It is very nice,” he said earlier in the post-match presentation, as quoted by Cricbuzz. “We played some really good cricket through the tournament, to come out here and have the result our way is a great feeling, very happy with how we played this game. It (attacking game) is not natural to me but it is something I really wanted to do, when you are trying something different you need the backing of the team, you need the backing of the management and they were right through with me.”
