New Delhi: Rohit Sharma on Wednesday announced his retirement from Test cricket with immediate effect, ending the relentless speculation surrounding his future in the longest format and leaving India in need of a new captain for the upcoming five-match series against England.
Having already retired from T20 Internationals after leading India to the World Cup trophy last year, the 38-year-old Rohit will now only be seen captaining the national team in the ODI format.
“Hello everyone, I would just like to share that I am retiring from Test cricket. It’s been an absolute honour to represent my country in whites.
Thank you for the immense love and support throughout this journey.
I will continue to don the blue and represent India in ODIs.”
Rohit Sharma burst onto the Test arena in style, smashing 177 on debut against the West Indies in Kolkata in 2013. He became just the sixth Indian batter to score a 100 in each innings of a Test when he hit 176 and 127 against South Africa in Visakhapatnam in 2019.
Rohit was arguably one of India’s most prolific Test batters, scoring 4301 runs in 67 Tests with 12 hundreds and 18 half centuries at an average of 40.57.
As a captain, he experienced the highs and lows of Test cricket. He led India to the World Test Championship final against Australia and then faced bitter defeats against New Zealand at home and the Border-Gavaskar series against Australia.
India will have a new Test captain for the five-match series in England, and the possible candidates are Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill, and Rishabh Pant.
Earlier, in the evening reports in the media suggested that the BCCI selection committee had decided to move past Rohit due to concerns over the veteran’s performances in red-ball cricket. The selectors reportedly wanted to groom a young captain for the new WTC cycle.
Rohit took charge as India’s Test captain in 2022 after Virat Kohli’s resignation and led the team in 24 matches in which he won 12 and lost nine with three draws.
Rohit remains the ODI captain.
