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Series decider at Lord’s could well be Rohit Sharma’s final chance

admin — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 13:41:00 +0000

Rohit Sharma has been below-par in the first two one-dayers against England.
| Photo Credit: ANI

Sporting greats confront two questions towards the end of their careers — how to consistently live up to their glorious past and how to keep themselves relevant for an uncertain future.

Rohit Sharma has been in this situation for the past two years. In Tests, his form nosedived starting with the home series against Bangladesh in September 2024, and following the 0-3 reverse to New Zealand and the subsequent 1-3 loss in Australia, he hurtled towards retirement.

The waves of uncertainty have now hit ODIs. In Thursday’s (July 16, 2026) four-wicket defeat to England here at the Sophia Gardens, the 39-year-old came up with another below-par effort by scoring an unconvincing 47-ball 26. The series decider at Lord’s on Sunday may well be his last chance saloon.

“I don’t think pressure is a factor for a player as big as Rohit,” India’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak insisted after the Cardiff reverse. “He is too good a player to feel that. Yes, for two matches there haven’t been runs. But I don’t think that makes a difference.”

The poser over Rohit’s utility in the 50-over format has a two-part genesis — his recent form and the strength of the candidates vying to take his place.

Rohit’s numbers since the victorious Champions Trophy campaign are: 14 innings, 589 runs at an average of 45.3 and strike-rate of 92.03, with one century and four fifties. While these are in line with his overall career figures — average of 48.58 and strike-rate of 92.76 — the manner of scoring has left much to be desired.

It is not a patch on the way Rohit batted during India’s fantastic run to the 2023 World Cup final — a tally of 597 at an average of 54.27 and a whopping strike-rate of 125.94 as he redefined both his and his team’s approaches.

It doesn’t help that in the present Indian cricketing ecosystem, many are forced to walk on eggshells. There have been some fair and ruthless calls, like the transition in ODI captaincy from Rohit to Shubman Gill last October and the culling of T20 World Cup-winning captain Suryakumar Yadav.

But the constant chopping and changing that is prevalent can unsettle minds. Rohit has had a consistent run, but it is not desirable if every innings is an audition. As William Shakespeare wrote in Measure for Measure, “Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.”

Kohli and Rohit for the World Cup: only fitness and form should matter

In Yashasvi Jaiswal, India appears to have a readymade replacement. The 24-year-old southpaw from Mumbai is considered too good a batter to be playing just Tests, and his two centuries in his last three ODI outings — the second in Chennai last month against Afghanistan when he took the injured Virat Kohli’s place — strengthen his case.

There is also Ruturaj Gaikwad, who was last picked for the home ODIs against South Africa in December 2025, and had made a fine hundred in Raipur.

In fairness, another failure for Rohit at Lord’s will certainly prompt discussions among the hierarchy. India’s next ODI is scheduled for late September against the West Indies, and coming as it does just over a year ahead of the World Cup, it is important to have clarity on the pool of personnel.

But the next two months also gives the wise men of Indian cricket time and space to have an unhurried and dispassionate assessment while being fully respectful towards a legend of the sport. Toughness need not come at the cost of being humane.

Published – July 17, 2026 06:40 pm IST

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Selectors unlikely to pick Rohit Sharma after Lord’s ODI

admin — Thu, 16 Jul 2026 21:32:00 +0000

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

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IND vs ENG semi final: Rohit Sharma, spinners guide India to third T20 World Cup final

admin — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 20:24:45 +0000

India flaunted their superabundance of talent in a display of absolute dominance to storm into the final of the T20 World Cup with a 68-run shellacking of England in their semi-final here on Thursday.

Leading the charge once again was their inspirational skipper Rohit Sharma, who laid the foundation with an aggressive 57 off 39 balls, and the captain was well-supported by Suryakumar Yadav (47 off 36), as India posted 171 for seven after being asked to bat first in the rain-hit match.

In reply, England were bowled out for 103 in 16.4 overs as India set up a title clash with first-timers South Africa in Barbados on Saturday. This is India’s third entry into the final of the tournament.

Hardik Pandya chipped in with a 13-ball 23, striking two sixes at a crucial juncture to prop up India.

On a slow, holding pitch with low bounce, left-arm Axar Patel (3/23) helped India tightened their grip on the match with his brilliant bowling, while his slow-bowling colleague Kuldeep Yadav (3/19) caused the damage in the middle overs.

The Indian team thus exacted revenge for the crushing 10-wicket loss it endured against the defending champions in the 2022 semifinal of the mega-event at the Adelaide Oval.

In the process, Rohit became the first Indian captain to lead the country in three ICC global finals in a space of 12 months — 2023 World Test Championship, 2023 ODI World Cup and now the T20 World Cup.

Considering India’s all-round bowling attack and nature of the surface, Rohit’s men were expected to defend the total and they did that rather comfortably.

His decision to use Axar in the powerplay proved to be a masterstroke as the left-arm spinner struck twice in quick succession, from which England could not recover.

Wrist spinner Kuldeep also played his part to perfection on a pitch that suited the spinners all through the competition.

Jos Buttler (23 off 15), Harry Brook (25 off 19) and Jofra Archer (21 off 15) were the only England batters to reach double figures, summing up India’s dominance in the game. Both Buttler and Brook fell while attempting the reverse sweep against Axar and Kuldeep respectively.

“We adapted to the conditions really well. It was a challenge and we adapted. We played the conditions really well,” Rohit said after the match.

India, who are yet to lose a game in the tournament, will be hoping that their star batter Virat Kohli finds run in the all-important title clash. Kohli (9 off 9) perished early once again on Thursday, trying to force the pace.

The keenly awaited fixture was impacted by intermittent rain with the start of play being delayed by one hour and 15 minutes. Another long halt came when India were 65 for two in eight overs.

As many as 250 additional minutes were allotted to the game but there was no reserve day.

Soon after Kohli and Rohit came out to bat after England put the opposition in, it became clear the surface was on the slower side and low bounce made the task trickier for the batters.

While Kohli fell early, Rohit adapted to the conditions much better and decided to play the ball late and behind the stumps. One example of that was the guide over backward point off Archer in the second over when the ball went through Phil Salt’s hands to reach the boundary. Setting the benchmark for other batters, Rohit then collected back-to-back fours in Topley’s third over before applying pressure on England’s premier spinner Adil Rashid after India reached 46 for two in the powerplay.

Rishabh Pant (4) was the second batter to be dismissed as he mistimed a flick to be caught at midwicket off Sam Curran.

Then came the engrossing match-up between Rohit and Rashid where the Indian captain employed the reverse and conventional sweep to collect two fours from the leg-spinner’s opening over.

Suryakumar was batting on 13 alongside Rohit when rain returned at the Providence Stadium, forcing the game to be paused for more than an hour.

The weather played spoilsport two balls after Suryakumar got inside the line to pick Jordan over fine leg for a maximum.

England used the leg-spin of Rashid and Liam Livingstone from both ends after the forced break but they could not stifle Rohit and Suryakumar.

A full toss from Rashid was duly dispatched over short fine leg for four, the first of many boundaries that India accumulated in the middle overs.

The 13th over from Curran yielded 19 runs for India with Suryakumar smashing a couple of sixes and Rohit played a pick-up shot for a maximum that also brought up his second successive fifty.

The entertaining 73-run ended when Rohit was beaten by a googly from Rashid while attempting a slog.

Following Curran’s bumper 13th over, the next fours were quiet for India before Hardik Pandya (23 off 13) hit two flat sixes on either side of the pitch to push the innings forward.

Ravindra Jadeja (17 not out off 9), sent ahead of Shivam Dube, got two crucial fours off Archer in the penultimate over while the latter’s stay lasted only one ball.

Axar’s six off Jordan in the final over took India past 170. The team scored 53 runs in the last five overs.

Brief scores

India 171 for 7 in 20 overs (Rohit Sharma 57, Suryakumar Yadav 47, Hardik Pandya 23, Chris Jordan 3/37, Adil Rashid 1/25, Jofra Archer 1/33, Reece Topley 1/25, Sam Curran 1/25) England 103 in 16.4 overs (Axar Patel 3/23, Kuldeep Yadav 3/19, Jasprit Bumrah 2/12).

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Dial R for Rohit and records!

admin — Wed, 11 Oct 2023 21:26:26 +0000

Rohit Sharma
| Photo Credit: Ritu Raj Konwar.

A look at the records notched up by Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli during India’s massive win on Wednesday:

Rohit’s third six of the innings helped him surpass Chris Gayle’s record of 553 sixes, scored in 551 innings, across formats. The Indian skipper now has 556 maximums in 473 innings.

Rohit’s 63-ball hundred is the fastest World Cup hundred by an Indian, bettering Virender Sehwag’s 81-ball ton against Bermuda in 2007.

Rohit broke the tie with Sachin Tendulkar for most World Cup hundreds with his seventh ton in just 19 innings across three editions.

Rohit equalled David Warner to become the joint-fastest batter to 1000 ODI World Cup runs in 19 innings. Rohit is the fourth Indian to score 1000 World Cup runs after Sachin, Sourav Ganguly and Virat Kohli

Rohit went past 50 international sixes in a calendar year for a record fourth time (2017, 2018, 2019 and 2023*), surpassing Gayle’s mark of three such instances (2009, 2012 and 2019).

Rohit’s 76 runs in the first PowerPlay is the most by an Indian batter in an ODI innings. The previous best was 70 by Robin Uthappa against West Indies in 2007.

Rohit’s 131 is the highest by an Indian in a World Cup chase surpassing Sachin’s unbeaten 127 against Kenya in 1996.

With 2311 in 53 innings, Kohli has broken Sachin Tendulkar’s record fo most runs in ICC World Cups (ODIs and T20Is). Sachin, who only featured in 50-over World Cups, amassed 2278 runs from 45 innings.

Kohli’s 46th half-century helped him best Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 45 fifty-plus scores in successful ODI run-chases.

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