Less than two months after announcing his retirement from T20I cricket, Rohit Sharma made a huge statement on his decision while taking a subtle dig at a host of players for announcing they are bidding farewell only to make a U-turn and making a comeback.
The Indian ODI and Test captain pointed out how one can never be a sure if a player has retired or not as most of them end up making a comeback. However, the 2024 T20 World Cup-winning captain confirmed that his decision to quit T20I cricket is final and there is no scope of him reversing the call. The 37-year-old stated the timing of retirement from the shortest format was perfect.
"Retirement has become a joke these days in world cricket, people announce retirement but then return to play just like that. Yes, it hasn't happened in India a lot. However, I have been observing players from other countries. They announce retirement but then return and play cricket. You don't get to understand whether someone has retired or not," said Rohit in an interaction with Jio Cinema.
"I am very clear. That was it. It was the perfect time for me to say goodbye to the format. I started playing this format for India, I made my debut in ODIs, but straightaway went on to play T20 World Cup in 2007. We won that. I have now won another World Cup," Rohit added.
Rohit is the only Indian player to win two T20 World Cup titles having made his debut in the shortest format during India's title-victory in the 2007 edition while his final game was the final of the victorious 2024 campaign.
Rohit played a total of 159 T20Is for India in which he made 4137 runs at an average of 32.0 with five centuries.
Did Rohit Sharma Take A Dig At Afridi, Stokes, Amir?
During his playing career, Shahid Afridi became the most famous example of retirement U-turns as he quit the sport in 2016, 2010, and 2011 , and 2014 only to return on all four occasions before his final retirement in 2017.
Recenty, Pakistan duo of Mohammed Amir and Imam Wasim made a u-turn on their retirement to play the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Star England all-rounder Ben Stokes announced his ODI retirement in 2022 but returned to the Jos Buttler-led side a year later and played the 2023 Cricket World Cup.