NEWS
Follow UsIndian captain Rohit Sharma was set to retire from red-ball cricket after the fourth Test against Australia in Melbourne but decided against it after some “well-wishers” from outside forced him to change his mind, reported the Times of India.
The right-handed batter had an embarrassing Border-Gavaskar Trophy, managing just 31 runs across five innings. Rohit missed the first Test in Perth due to the first of his second child, and India ended up winning the match by a margin of 295 runs.
Rohit then made his return and disturbed India’s winning combination. India lost two of the next three Tests and looked completely clueless under his captaincy.
He batted in the middle-order in the second and third Tests but moved to the top-order in the fourth Test, pushing in-form KL Rahul down to No.3. That didn’t do the trick either, and Rohit then “opted out” of the final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
"Rohit had made up his mind after MCG. Had his well wishers from the outside didn't force him to change his mind, we could have well seen another retirement in Australia," said a source aware of developments told the TOI.
There were reports suggesting that Rohit would retire either after the fourth or the fifth Test, but the batter spoke to the broadcaster during the final Test and confirmed he won’t be retiring from Test cricket any time soon.
According to the report, Indian head coach Gautam Gambhir wasn’t too pleased with his decision. The two will work together in the 2025 Champions Trophy.
