Rohit Sharma plays a shot during the 2nd ODI against England, at Sophia Gardens stadium in Cardiff
| Photo Credit: ANI
The third ODI between India and England at Lord’s on Sunday (July 19, 2026) could be Rohit Sharma’s final game in international cricket with the national selection committee unlikely to pick the white-ball great beyond the ongoing series in the UK.
In the last eight ODIs, Rohit has totalled only 241 runs at an average of 30.1 and a strike-rate of 88.6 with one half-century.
Chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar is in Cardiff as the touring selector and it is pretty clear that they are not looking at the 39-year-old double ICC trophy winning India skipper for the next year’s ODI World Cup.
“The national selectors are keen that Yashasvi Jaiswal who scored two hundreds in three innings get a longer rope. There are around 20 games and Jaiswal needs to be given those 20 games.
“No one can tell Rohit to retire but this is very clear that going forward for the home series vs West Indies in September, the selectors would like to look forward. Rohit’s future is a decision that he needs to take,” a senior BCCI source privy to selection matters told PTI on conditions of anonymity.
It must be mentioned that head coach Gautam Gambhir and Agarkar are on the same page that Virat Kohli is an automatic choice given his form and fitness but not Rohit.
It is understood that if Rohit is persisted with beyond England, then there is no way that Jaiswal, the next in queue, would miss out on a precious game time.
It must be mentioned that selection committee and Rohit were not on the same page when it came to his Test retirement.
While the sources close to selection committee maintained that they didn’t want Rohit to decide after playing two of the five Tests in England, those who are privy to Rohit’s version vouched that he never intended to play only two games and had made himself available for the whole series.
Published – July 17, 2026 05:45 am IST
