Dubai, March 10: India captain Rohit Sharma confirmed he is not planning to retire from ODIs after leading India to a four-wicket triumph over New Zealand in the 2025 Champions Trophy final here on Sunday. The right-handed opener raced to 76 runs, with seven boundaries and three sixes to his name, and helped India set the pace for the run chase in tricky Dubai conditions.
“I am not going to retire from this format,” said Rohit in the post-match press conference. “Koi future plan hai nahi, jo chal raha hai chalega (no future plan, whatever is happening will continue),” he added.
The 37-year-old, who had previously announced his decision to retire from T20Is following India’s triumph in the 2024 T20 World Cup, was expected to step down from white-ball cricket as a whole, given the next ODI tournament is the World Cup in 2027, slated to be played in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
Rohit made his ODI debut against Ireland at Belfast on June 23, 2007, and has represented the Indian national team in 273 games while racking up 11,168 runs.
The batter from Mumbai also hailed the senior players who are stalwarts in the Indian national team and claimed their hunger drives the younger players to step up.
“There is a lot of hunger even in guys who have played a lot of cricket, and it rubs down on even the younger players. We have 5-6 players who are real stalwarts… it makes the job easier for all of us,” he added.
Rohit also hailed fellow Mumbaikar Shreyas Iyer, who ended the tournament as the second-highest run-getter, having scored 241 runs in five matches behind New Zealand batter Rachin Ravindra.
The Indian skipper deemed Iyer as the ‘silent hero ‘ in India’s win.
“Shreyas Iyer was the silent hero, he was very crucial in the middle order. Even when I got out today, Shreyas had a crucial partnership with Axar,’ said Rohit. (IANS)
