Mumbai: Team India captain Rohit Sharma has announced his retirement from Test cricket with immediate effect.
The 38-year-old veteran of 67 Tests, 273 ODIs and 159 T20Is made the announcement via an Instagram story post on Wednesday evening.
“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,” Rohit wrote.
Indian selectors will have to quickly name a full-time Test captain as Team India are scheduled to embark on a long England tour in June.
Two names are likely to be top of their list – young Shubman Gill or pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah.
India will play five Tests in England, starting with the opener at Headingley in Leeds from June 20-24.
Rohit’s decision may have been triggered by reports that he would be removed from Test captaincy.
Though he didn’t seem too willing to walk away from Test cricket even after India lost the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 1-3 in Australia, Rohit’s form had been a major concern over several months.
His poor run of scores in the home series against Bangladesh and New Zealand in September-October last year, followed by a horror tour of Australia in December-January set the selectors thinking. Rohit averaged a meagre 10.93 in eight Test matches, managing a solitary half-century. His leadership was also questioned as India suffered a first-ever 0-3 home Test series sweep.
In Australia, Rohit missed the first Test to be with wife Ritika for the birth of their second child, and then “stood down” in the series finale at Sydney because of his poor batting form. At that time, he had said it was not a ‘retirement decision’.
The selectors obviously think differently.
