Soon after India clinched the T20 World Cup, Rohit Sharma dropped a bombshell saying that his last T20 match at the international level was against South Africa. Just moments before this Rohit had made that shocking revelation, his teammate Virat Kohli (an Indian cricketer) announced that he had played his last T20I match.
The two decided to say farewell to T20Is after achieving lofty goals – in Rohit’s case it was winning a world cup as captain, while Kohli added another title to his name for being a T20 world champion besides being an ODI World Cup winner of 2011.
Is there for sure anything that may change Rohit’s mind? The 37-year-old is very open about his decision to retire from T20Is. He thereupon has called cricket players who make comebacks from retirement as non-serious jokers of life
“Cricket’s retirement is nothing but a joke in the present day,” said Rohit during an interview with JioCinema. “Retirement is announced, but then people come back and play. In India, we don’t have this; it’s rare here. However, I have seen other players from different countries announce their retirements only to return later. So you are never sure whether someone has really retired or not.”
When asked if he would like to set the pace for others on that front Rohit replied negatively saying he is very clear and his decision stands final. “It was time to say goodbye to the format that I always enjoyed playing. I played 50-over cricket for India and then immediately moved into T20 world cup in 2007. I won both times – first along with the T20 World Cup in 2007 against Pakistan and now again (2024 T20 World Cup). So it’s high time,” he said.
Between 2007 and 2024, Rohit has played 159 T20Is making a total of 4231 runs at the strike rate of 140.89 including five centuries and thirty-two fifties. The 2007 World Cup was also his debut as a T20 international rendering him part of India’s team which later triumphed over Pakistan during final match.
Rohit will still represent India in Tests And ODIs.
