Rohit Sharma has announced his retirement from Test cricket with immediate effect. He announced it through his social media handles and will continue to play ODIs.
“Hello everyone, I would just like to share that I am retiring from Test cricket. It’s been an absolute honour to represent my country in whites. Thank you for all the love and support over the years. I will continue to represent India in the ODI format,” said Rohit in his statement.
His decision to hang up the white dress brings an end to his long 11-year Test career. During his time, he played 67 Test matches and captained 24 of them. He took the captaincy reins from Virat Kohli in 2022. In Test cricket, he finished with an aggregate of 4301 runs that includes 12 centuries.
His retirement comes awfully close to the upcoming England tour. India is supposed to travel to England for Five Tests. The Indian selection committee will meet soon to select a team, but they will need a new captain now. In the most recent tour of Australia, Rohit at one point sat himself out of the team due to bad form. Ultimately, India lost the series 3-1.
Rohit made his Test debut in 2013 against the West Indies, and he started with a century. He struck another century in the next match. However, all that promise of a great player came to nothing as he went through a middling five-year period from then on. He only had one hundred in those five years in 2017.
His career-defining moment in Test cricket came in 2019 when he was promoted to open the batting for the team. India was playing South Africa in a three-match series, and Rohit hit two centuries in that series. There was no looking back after the completion of the series.
He had further success against England and played a match-winning knock at the Oval. The start of the 2024-25 season was good for Rohit Sharma as he scored two more centuries. However, he experienced a dip in his form right after that and could not recover from it.