Rohit Sharma’s Test Retirement: BCCI Ultimatum Led to Exit, Told Agarkar ‘I’m Not Finished’

Rohit Sharma’s Test Retirement: While the entire Indian cricketing community – both fans and players – are trying to comprehend the retirement of Virat Kohli from Test cricket, let us not forget about Rohit Sharma. The ex-Test captain, only a short time ago, expressed his desire to captain India in England, and just over a month prior to the tour announced his retirement from the format. Rohit definitely did not have the best of times as India's red-ball captain losing 0-3 to New Zealand at home and then losing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy by succumb to Australia 1-3. Nonetheless, winning the Champions Trophy in March and T20 World Cup less than a year ago made one feel that Rohit would at least get that trip to England to attempt to maintain some pride.

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The written plans by the BCCI were said to be different. The day before Rohit posted his retirement announcement on social media, X was kicking off with its contentions while a segment of fans and reporters were hopeful for a significant revelation around the Indian captaincy and subsequently less than 24 hours later, Rohit had made his decision. Just that, the end of a Test career that despite the promise, never really took off like the T20Is or ODIs, was over.

So what in the world changed between that podcast with Michael Clarke where he stated he would make himself available for the England tour, and Thursday? The easy answer is, the BCCI and specifically its selection committee made this decision on behalf of Rohit. A report from The Dainik Jagran quoted the BCCI mentored on the third World Test Championship cycle, they wanted a fresh start and a new direction for which they did not deem Rohit fit.

All of the speculation about Rohit's Test future began, as earlier mentioned, when he was not included in India's Playing XI for the fifth and final Test against Australia in Sydney. It was thought at the time that Rohit and head coach Gautam Gambhir directly made the call, Jagran's reporting suggests that when Rohit said 'I am not going anywhere' it was his way of telling the Ajit Agarkar selection committee 'I am not done yet'. The report states that had it not been for the BCCI ultimatum, 'Rohit would have never quit Tests', which took place the evening of May 7, ultimately leading to Rohit's retirement.

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Rohit Sharma as India captain

While it's not the cleanest exit for Rohit, you have to feel for the guy. While Rohit has had the opportunity to captain India, he took over for Kohli after Kohli stepped down as Test captain back in January 2022. Since early 2022, he has done his part as captain, leading India home to a series win against Australia and a series win over England at home, while notching 242 runs (including 1 century), helping India retain the 2023 Border-Gavaskar Trophy, and he scored another 400 runs (including 2 hundreds) that helped beat England 3-1 at home in a series where Kohli skipped the series entirely for the birth of his second child.

During the second half of last year, the stars stopped shining for Rohit when his average dipped to - are you ready - a total of 90 runs from 91 balls from 6 innings against New Zealand cost India their first Test series loss at home in 12 years, and then of course against Australia, where he couldn't even muster a run, ultimately finishing with 31 from 5 innings which calculated to an immortal average of 6.20. He also had India not lose in a Test series in South Africa for the first time since 2010-11.

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