It’s hard to believe that some of India’s most reputed news publications reported false claims about Rohit Sharma, suggesting that the Lord’s ODI would be his last match for the country. It required BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia to intervene and clear the air, saying:
“There are a lot of speculations going on in the media about Rohit Sharma’s future. I want to firmly assert that there has been no such discussion that Rohit will be playing his last match at Lord’s on Sunday.”
Rohit Sharma Silences Retirement Rumours With a Lord’s Century
Rohit Sharma won back-to-back ICC titles for India within a span of eight months, from June 2024 to March 2025. He retired from T20Is after leading India to victory in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in the Caribbean and was removed from the ODI captaincy after winning the ICC Champions Trophy in the UAE in March 2025.
Now, all of a sudden, he found himself at the centre of retirement rumours, with speculation spreading like wildfire that the Lord’s ODI would be his last appearance for India. The rumours gained momentum following Rohit’s modest scores of 11 at Birmingham and 26 at Cardiff.
But Rohit, being Rohit, ignored the outside noise and responded in the best possible way. At the Home of Cricket, he smashed 138 off 110 balls during India’s mammoth chase of 387. However, despite his brilliant innings, India fell 27 runs short of the target.
Rohit took the rumours in his stride, saying:
“Let the noise be there; if there’s no noise, there’s no fun. My job is inside; their job is outside.”
That is how an experienced international cricketer responds to baseless speculation.
He also spoke about his role in the team, saying:
“My job is with the bat, come and play, represent my country, represent the team, that’s what I have been told to do since I made my debut, so that’s what I’m going to do. The noise has been there since I made my debut, 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. 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.”
Rohit Sharma Scores Century In His Last Game in England
Playing at Lord’s is always a special feeling for any cricketer, and scoring a century there makes it even more memorable. Rohit Sharma ended his final ODI innings in England with a magnificent century, becoming the first Indian to score an ODI century at Lord’s.
Sunday’s hundred against England was the 34th ODI century of his career in 288 appearances for India. He now needs just 105 more runs to reach the milestone of 12,000 ODI runs.