India skipper Rohit Sharma has responded to the question of his retirement after the team’s win in the Champions Trophy. India won by four wickets against New Zealand chasing down 252 runs thanks to Rohit’s aggressive 76-run knock.
India skipper Rohit Sharma has bluntly dismissed the talks of his retirement from international cricket after leading the Indian team to Champions Triumph in Dubai on Sunday (March 9). He confirmed the same in the post-match press conference after the final when asked about his future plans.
“Future plans will come in future. For now, everything will continue as it is,” Rohit said. Nevertheless, towards the end of the press conference, the 37-year-old dismissed all the reports, claiming that he will not retire from the format.
“I’m not going to retire from this format, just to make sure that no rumours are spread going forward,” Rohit said.
The Indian captain also lauded Shreyas Iyer for his consistent performance, batting at number four for India. Iyer scored 243 runs in five matches to finish as the leading run-scorer for India and second overall, behind Rachin Ravindra.
“Shreyas Iyer was the silent hero, he was very crucial in the middle order, even when I got out today, he had a crucial partnership with Axar,” Rohit further said in the press conference. Rohit himself played the match-winning knock of 76 runs opening the innings, playing a massive role in the tricky 252-run chase. He deservingly won the player of the match award as well but lauded the team effort and the crowd after the match in the post-match presentation.
“I want to appreciate everyone who came out and supported us. The crowd here has been magnificent, it is not our home ground but they made it our home ground. The number of people that came here to watch us play and to get that result was very satisfying. Not just this game but right through, our spinners in particular, there’s too much expectation when you are playing on a pitch like that, but they never disappointed. We do understand their strengths when playing on such pitches and we used that to our advantage. We were consistent with our bowling right through,” Rohit said.