Rohit Sharma put the speculation around his future in international cricket down to "noise" which he said "doesn't really matter too much" following his century in the third ODI against England at Lord's. Rohit scored a 110-ball 138 but India failed to chase down 388 and lost the third ODI and the series in England.
"Look, my job is with the bat. Come and play, represent my country, represent the team. That's what I've been told to do since I made my debut. So that's what I'm going to do," Rohit told bcci.tv after the game. "You know, the noise since I made my debut was there. And till the time I'm going to stay here, it's always going to be there. So it doesn't really matter too much.
"What matters is what I do on the field: try and contribute to the success of the team. That's all my focus is right now. And let the noise be there. You know, there's no noise, there's no fun. My job is inside, their job is outside. So that's how I look at it."
The talk about Rohit's possible retirement began on Thursday, midway through the second ODI in Cardiff, where he made 26 off 47 balls. In the first ODI at Edgbaston, Rohit had made 11 off 21. BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia quickly dismissed the chatter, telling PTI, "I want to firmly assert that there has been no such discussion that Rohit will be playing his last match at Lord's on Sunday."
But Cricinfo had learned that the selectors had told Rohit, now 39, that they would be providing opportunities to younger openers going forward with an eye on the 2027 ODI World Cup.
Following the match on Sunday, Shubman Gill, India's Test and ODI captain, also dismissed talks about Rohit's retirement from ODIs, the only format he plays having retired from Tests and T20Is.
"He has not told us anything," Gill said at the press conference. "I think it is all out in the media. But there's not been any discussion like that in the team."
While he might not have played his last game in India colours, Rohit has played his last game for India in England. It was also the 400th time Rohit had played a game with Virat Kohli internationally, and the two shared a 113-run stand in 86 balls for the second wicket, Rohit very much the dominant partner with 71 in 48 balls to Kohli's run-a-ball 38.
"We played our entire career together. So, you know, it was nice to have him in the middle," Rohit said. "You know, we've had a lot of partnerships. It's always fun batting together. We understand each other so much.
"And yeah, it's always nice in the middle, bouncing off ideas, try and see what we can do. So there was a lot of conversation that was going around in between when we were batting."
Rohit became the oldest male cricketer to play an ODI for his country, surpassing Mohinder Amarnath's mark during the Dharamsala fixture against Afghanistan in June. He made scores of 16, 48 and 79 in that three-match series.
His position in the team has attracted scrutiny in pretty much every bilateral series he has played since the Ajit Agarkar-led selection panel replaced him with Gill as India's ODI captain in October 2025, months after Rohit had led India to the Champions Trophy title in March.