Rohit Sharma may have claimed that he isn’t announcing his retirement after benching himself for the last Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test match in Sydney, but that doesn’t mean he’ll play for the India cricket team going forward. The Indian captain’s form has been so woeful that dropping himself for another batter seemed appropriate rather than having another crack for Team India to tie the series 2-2.
Retirement in Rohit Sharma’s hands, future not
But the fact that Rohit Sharma doesn’t want to retire just yet doesn’t mean he’ll be the captain or part of the squad for Team India’s next Test series against England in the summer. His fellow Mumbaiker and former Indian cricketer, Sanjay Manjrekar, thinks that retirement is a very personal decision a player must only announce when he thinks he’s done. However, he also believes that Rohit Sharma’s future isn’t in his hands but rather the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
“One thing that a lot of players say is that ‘I will decide my future’. I have a problem with that. You can decide your future with regards to retirement, but somebody else has got the job to decide your future as a player and captain,” he added.
Ajit Agarkar to decide Rohit Sharma’s future
He added that Ajit Agarkar, the current BCCI chairman of selectors, has the power in hand to decide whether Rohit Sharma will continue to play for Team India in Test cricket. It’s known that Agarkar had a chat with the Indian captain and head coach, Gautam Gambhir, before the Sydney Test, and only then was Rohit benched and Shubman Gill came in as his replacement.
“That’s the chairman of selectors. You have got to respect the hierarchy, however big you are. If the chairman of selectors is strong and he believes in the long-term health of Indian cricket, he has the power to decide whether your career should end now, or you get a few more matches, or one more series. Retirement is in your hands, but playing for India is not,” Manjrekar explained.
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