Rohit Sharma Reacts To ODI Retirement Claims With Firm "My Job Is With The Bat" Statement
India all-rounder Rohit Sharma has finally addressed the mounting rumours over his future in one-day internationals after India suffered a 2-1 series defeat to England. The senior opener insisted that he is unbothered by suggestions from the outside world, and simply wants to give his best whenever called upon.
Post series BCCI uploaded a video in which captain Rohit Sharma clearly dismissed the retirement talk and said that he has been ignoring the noise outside from the start of his career.
Rohit said :
"My job is with the bat. So come and play, represent my country, represent the team. That's what I was told to do when I made my debut.So that's what I'm gonna do. You know, the clamour from way back when I made my debut was there, and it's always going to stay so, to the time I'm here, it really doesn't matter much,"
He added :
"That's what I can control is what I do on the field and try and help the team. That's all I'm worried about now. Let the noise be there.You know, without noise, there's no fun.My job is inside, their job is outside. That's how I look at it,"
Rohit Answers Critics With Record-Breaking Century
The Indian opener responded to the whispers (that the third ODI at Lord's would be Rohit's last in the 50-over format)-a little more forthright in his case-by walking out and making a far more audible statement.
Rohit became the first Indian to score a century at Lord's. The century, off 138, was his 34th in ODI and set new batting standards for most runs scored by an Indian in an individual innings in England against England, moving past his 137 not out at Trent Bridge in 2018.
India appeared to be on top in the chase of 388, with Rohit and captain Shubman Gill putting on 147 for the first wicket. Rohit later combined with Virat Kohli for an 113-run partnership, with Kohli making 74. Gill scored 77.
On batting with Kohli, Rohit said:
"We played our whole career [referring to Virat Kohli] together, so it was nice to have him in the middle. You know, we've had a lot of partnerships. Always great fun when we’re batting together. We’ve got a good understanding of each other and no, always great fun, bouncing around ideas to see what we can do.Yeah, there was a bit of conversation flying around between us while we were batting."
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India Fall Short Despite Strong Chase
However, despite Rohit's magnificent century, India fell short by 27 runs after a middle-order collapse from 304/2 to 330/10. Earlier, England had set a massive target of 387/3, spurred by centuries from Ben Duckett (141) and Jacob Bethell (91), Joe Root 74* & Jos Buttler 41*. Sam Curran
Rohit accepted that it was a disappointing defeat but defended the Indian bowling attack, arguing that few of them are still learning the ropes of One Day International Cricket.
A bit disappointed with the result, because I felt we were playing cricket really well. You know, how we started there in Birmingham and set it's pretty good cricket. We fell slightly short here with the bat; it wasn't quite enough to score on the scoreboard.