'Retirements have become a joke': Rohit Sharma won't reverse decision after perfect ending to T20I career
Rohit Sharma has made it clear once and for all that he will not take back his decision to retire from T20Is for India.
India captain Rohit Sharma has made it clear that he has no intentions of making a retirement U-turn in T20I for India, mentioning he is at peace with the decision. Rohit, who bid adieu to T20 internationals after India won the World Cup three months ago, reckons the word 'retirement' has lost its essence and authenticity in world cricket, no thanks to how unfaithful some sportspersons have been towards it. Several cricketers from across the world have reversed their decisions to retire multiple times, including the likes of Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik and more. Even renowned athletes such as Michael Jordan, Michael Phelps, Kim Clijsters, Tom Brady have not taken their retirements in the past seriously.
Hence, Rohit's skepticism is understandable, but in no way is it influential enough to change his mind. Rohit is satisfied with the timing of the decision. And why not? After all, not many get to go out in their own terms. Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene did it in 2014, as did Michael Clarke with the 2015 World Cup. But not many Indian cricketers can brag of walking into the sunset on the high of winning the World Cup. As the entire nation of India celebrated India's iconic T20 World Cup late in the night, Rohit quietly dropped the R bomb and followed Virat Kohli into T20 retirement.
"The concept of retirements in world cricket has become a bit of a joke. Someone announces retirement and comes back to play again. Although it hasn't happened in India, I see players overseas announcing retirement and reversing it. You can't figure out whether the player has actually retired or not. I'm not talking about myself. I am final and clear in my decision," Rohit said while speaking on Jio Cinema.
Rohit's perfect T20I farewell
The India captain ended his T20I career as the country's highest run-getter in the format – 4231 from 159 matches at a strike-rate of 140 and including five centuries, the joint-highest with Glenn Maxwell. In a way, life came full circle for Rohit on the 29th of July, as 17 years after he was part of India's historic 2007 T20 World Cup in South Africa as a debutant, here he was lifting the silverware as captain. One cannot ask for a more fitting farewell. After India's exit in the semifinal of the 2022 T20 World Cup, it seemed as if Rohit and Kohli were done, but they did come back, for one last hurrah, and what a decision it turned out to be.
Having come agonisingly close to winning the 2023 World Cup at home, Rohit tried his destiny in T20Is one final time. After enduring a forgettable IPL 2024 for Mumbai Indians, Rohit emerged as India's highest scorer in the T20 World Cup with 257 runs, including a best of 92 against Australia, arguably the best knock of the tournament. From there to have fulfilled his dream, nothing, and Rohit means absolutely nothing, can make him take it back.
"That was it. It was the perfect time to say goodbye to the format which I really loved playing. I made by debut for India in ODIs but straightaway played the T20 World Cup in 2007 from there. I won that and now I've won this, so I thought it was a good time to move on," he added.
