Will Rohit Sharma retire? Lord’s ODI could be the last match, selector said – ‘Now is the time to move forward’

New Delhi. The historic ground of Lord’s, where the third and final ODI match is to be played between India and England on July 19. The last match of the series may prove to be the last match of Rohit Sharma’s ODI career. The selection committee last week spoke to Rohit Sharma in the presence of head coach Gautam Gambhir and placed the future roadmap in front of him. The committee now wants to prepare the team keeping in mind the 50-over World Cup to be held in 2027. Under this, there is a plan to provide ample opportunities to youth like Yashasvi Jaiswal, who have been waiting for their turn for a long time. The selectors have made it clear that Rohit Sharma is not included in the plans for the 2027 World Cup.

According to the report of ‘The Indian Express’, the Senior Selection Committee of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has made it clear to Rohit Sharma that after this series they are considering him further. Confirming this, a senior source in the board said, ‘The selectors have clearly told Rohit Sharma that he is not a part of their plans after the England tour and the team is going to move ahead after this series. Although Rohit wanted to continue playing after getting himself fully fit, the selectors have left the final decision to him as to how he wants to announce his future. It is understood that Rohit Sharma had also talked to some top BCCI officials during the England series regarding this matter and they were not at all happy with this decision.

Strategy to give opportunity to youth
Rohit Sharma has already said goodbye to two formats of the game. On June 29, 2024, just hours after India won the T20 World Cup title, he retired from T20 International cricket. After this, last year on May 7, 2025, just before leaving for the England tour, he also announced his retirement from Test cricket through Instagram.

Since Rohit’s withdrawal from Test cricket, the selection committee and team management were busy in shaping the future of Indian cricket and grooming the youth. One reason for this tough decision was that players like Yashasvi Jaiswal, who were in excellent form, were forced to sit on the bench despite scoring consecutive centuries. As part of this preparation for the future, the selection committee had taken the ODI captaincy from Rohit last year and handed over the command of the team to Shubman Gill.

Rohit’s unmatched captaincy period
Rohit Sharma’s journey as ODI captain has been very spectacular and historic. Under his captaincy, the Indian team had traveled till the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup. In this tournament, Rohit’s aggressive approach of batting hard from the beginning completely changed India’s style of playing in ODI cricket. His same fearless and fearless template was also seen in the 2024 T20 World Cup, where under his leadership, India won the trophy, ending the title drought.

Reason for decline in form
Rohit Sharma’s recent form has not been in his favor. Runs are not coming from his bat on this tour of England. In the initial matches of the series, he played short innings of 11 and 26 runs respectively. During the second ODI played in Cardiff, it was clearly visible that Rohit was not in his old form and he was struggling a lot to get the ball in the middle of the bat. Now all eyes are fixed on Lord’s ground on 19th July. It will be interesting to see whether this legendary batsman, known as ‘Hitman’, bids goodbye to his golden ODI career by playing a memorable innings on the historic pitch of Lord’s or not.