Rohit Sharma breaks silence on retirement speculation after Lord's masterclass

Star India batter Rohit Sharma has shrugged off his retirement talks, following a magnificent century in the third ODI against England on Sunday, July 19, at Lord’s. Sharma became the first Indian batter to hit an ODI century at the iconic venue, playing a stellar innings of 138 (110), smashing 17 fours and five sixes.

Coming into the series-decider third fixture, Rohit Sharma was under massive pressure following low returns with the bat in the first two matches. Some media reports also claimed that Lord’s ODI would be his last as the team management has decided to move on from the veteran opener. 

However, Rohit put all the rumours to rest after his century, saying that the outside noise doesn’t affect him much and he’s there only to perform for the country.

"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,” Rohit said in an interview shared by BCCI.

Rohit also gave a tongue-in-cheek remark for the rumour-mongers, saying there’s no fun playing without the outside noise.

"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,” he added.

India lose ODI series to England

The noise around Rohit Sharma’s axe from the team grew after Yashasvi Jaiswal’s remarkable returns in his young career. The southpaw has already hit two centuries from six matches and is in the race to be India’s preferred opener for the ODI World Cup 2027.

For now, Rohit’s hundred has silenced the noise for a while, but the clamour is likely to increase again if he fails to maintain form. Meanwhile, despite his century, India lost the third ODI by 27 runs, failing to chase down the massive target of 388. As a result, they also lost the series 1-2, their third successive defeat in a bilateral ODI series away from home.