India captain Rohit Sharma expressed his intention to continue playing Test and ODI cricket “at least for a while” after retiring from T20Is at the end of the T20 World Cup last month.
Shortly after winning the T20 World Cup title by beating South Africa in Barbados, his first major win as captain, Rohit announced that he was retiring from the format alongside senior stars Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja. Rohit bid adieu to T20Is as its highest-run scorer with 4231 runs from 159 matches, comprising five hundreds and 32 fifties.
“This was my last (T20I) game as well. No better time to say goodbye to this format. I’ve loved every moment of this. I started my India career playing this format. This is what I wanted, I wanted to win the Cup. I wanted this badly. Very hard to put in words. It was a very emotional moment for me. I was very desperate for this title in my life. Happy that we eventually crossed the line,” Rohit told reporters after the final.
The 37-year-old is on a break and will miss India’s upcoming limited-overs tour to Sri Lanka later this month.
“I just said it. I don’t look that far ahead. So clearly, you will be seeing me play at least for a while,” Rohit said during a promotional event in the US on Sunday.
Rohit continues to form an integral part of India’s plans in the longer formats, both as an opening batter and captain. Rohit had an excellent run with the bat in the 2023 ODI World Cup at home last year, where he plundered 597 runs at a 120-plus strike-rate as India finished runners-up.
He has also been India’s most successful batter in the World Test Championship era since 2019, amassing 2552 runs in 35 matches. In seven matches in the 2023-25 cycle, Rohit has slammed 700 runs with three centuries and as many fifties.
BCCI secretary Jay Shah had also recently confirmed that Rohit will continue to lead India in the ongoing World Test Championship cycle and the Champions Trophy in February-March next year.
Rohit’s next assignment is likely to be India’s first Test of the home season against Bangladesh in Chennai, starting September 19.
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