No time to retire
The "unwarranted" speculation on Rohit Sharma's retirement during the Champions Trophy irked former captain Dilip Vengsarkar to no end as he believes greats like the current India skipper deserve time and space to decide on their future.
After leading India to their second ICC title in nine months, Rohit himself dismissed all the speculations on his future, saying he is not retiring from the ODI format.
The 37-year-old Rohit has not yet committed to the 2027 ODI World Cup but Vengsarkar reckons his presence can only be good for the team.
"I am not an astrologer. A lot of matches to go till the 2027 World Cup. A lot will depend on his form and fitness. It is not fair to say anything at this stage but he has been outstanding as both captain and player. I don't know why people speculated (on his retirement), it's unwarranted. A player of his stature should get to decide about his future," Vengsarkar said.
Both in the 2024 T20 World Cup and the Champions Trophy, Rohit's cameos in challenging batting conditions were worth their weight in gold. In Dubai, he made sure India got the most out of the powerplay, especially in the high-pressure run chase against New Zealand in the final.
With Rohit going for his shots from the first ball, the others could take time to adjust to the pace of the slow surface.
"The way he has been playing all this time is nothing short of exemplary. He has got three double hundreds in ODI. What more do I say about him. Guys like Virat (Kohli) and Rohit are big match players, the bigger the platform the better the performance. It is very important from the team's point of view. Their sheer presence is demoralising for the opposition," said Vengsarkar, who is also a former chief selector who tracked both Rohit and Kohli in their early days.
It was a complete turnaround of fortunes for Rohit who had to drop himself in the final Test in Sydney due to an extended lean run.
Unfinished business
Australia legend Ricky Ponting believes Rohit is still going strong and a sense of unfinished business could be behind his decision to continue playing. Barring the ODI World Cup, Rohit has won all ICC titles while captaining India. He came agonisingly close to laying his hands on the 50-over world title at home in 2023, only to lose to Australia in the final. The 2027 ODI World Cup will be jointly hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
"When you start getting to that point of your career, everyone's waiting for you to retire. And I don't know why, when you can still play as well as he's played, I think he was just trying to put those questions to bed once and for all," he said.
"To me, it means that he must have that goal in mind of playing in the next World Cup. I think probably the fact that they lost the last one and he was captain, that might be the thing that's playing on the back of his mind," he added.
