Rohit Sharma clears air on retirement speculations after ICC Champions Trophy triumph, says ‘I am not going to retire…’

There was significant speculation regarding Rohit Sharma’s future in One Day Internationals as the Champions Trophy 2025 final approached.

New Delhi: Rohit Sharma has addressed the speculation surrounding his ODI career following India’s victory over New Zealand by four wickets in the 2025 Champions Trophy final. Leading up to the match, there was considerable discussion about Rohit’s future in ODIs, especially since he will turn 38 in two months and the next significant ODI event is the 2027 World Cup. Despite these rumors suggesting he might retire, Rohit confirmed in the post-match press conference that he has not made any decisions regarding his future.

“I am not going to retire from this format. Just to make sure no rumours are spread moving forward. Koi future plan hai nahi, jo chal raha hai chalega (there is no future plan, whatever is going on will continue as it is),” Rohit Sharma said.

“There is a lot of hunger even in guys who have played a lot of cricket and it rubs down on even the younger players. We have five to six players who are real stalwarts. It makes the job easier for all of us.”

Rohit Sharma achieved his first half-century in an ICC event final, delivering an impressive performance against New Zealand during the ICC Champions Trophy final held in Dubai.

In the final match, while pursuing a target of 252 runs, Indian captain Rohit Sharma aggressively attacked the bowlers from the very first ball, accumulating 76 runs off 83 deliveries, which included seven fours and three sixes. His strike rate was 91.56.

Rohit has accumulated 322 runs in 11 innings over nine ICC event finals, achieving an average of 32.20, which includes one half-century and a top score of 76.

Rohit has now entered the ranks of Sourav Ganguly (117 runs against New Zealand in the ICC Knockout 2000 final), Sanath Jayasuriya (74 runs against India in the ICC Champions Trophy 2002 final), and Hansie Cronje of South Africa (61 not out against West Indies in the ICC Knockout 1998 final) as one of the few captains to have scored over 50 runs in an ICC Champions Trophy final.

Rohit Sharma’s top score in any ODI final is 76, surpassing his previous best of 66 against Australia at the SCG during the Commonwealth Bank series final in 2008.