Rohit Sharma may retire from ODIs after series against England: Indian media

KARACHI: India's third ODI of the ongoing away series against England, scheduled to be played at Lord's on Sunday, could be top-order batter Rohit Sharma's last appearance in the format, Indian media reported on Thursday.

According to a report by a renowned news website, the Indian selection committee has spoken to the former captain alongside head coach Gautam Gambhir last week and revealed its plans going forward.

The report further claimed that the selection committee wants to instead give the opportunity to youngsters like Yashasvi Jaiswal, adding that the 39-year-old was no longer part of its plans for the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup, scheduled to be co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia next year.

"Selectors have informed Rohit he is not in their scheme of things post the England tour and they are moving on from him after this series," the report quoted a source in the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) as saying.

"Though he wanted to continue, especially after working on his fitness. The selectors have left the ball in Sharma's court to decide his future," it added.

The development comes amid Sharma's poor run of form in ODIs as the right-handed batter has only one half-century in his previous eight appearances, which came against Afghanistan in Chennai last month.

Furthermore, in the ongoing series against England, Sharma managed modest scores of 11 and 26, respectively, but became the seventh leading run-scorer of the format by surpassing Pakistan great Inzamam-ul-Haq.

For the unversed, Rohit Sharma has already stepped away from Tests and T20Is.

He called time on his shortest format career after guiding India to a drought-ending ICC Men's T20 World Cup title in 2024, while he hung up his boots from the longest version of the sport after the away Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) against Australia later that year.