Rohit Sharma opens up on his T20I retirement, says inner consciousness helped in his decision

India’s veteran Rohit Sharma recently called time on his Test career however he will continue to lead the team in ODIs. Rohit will now play a solitary format for the team after he decided to hang his boots from the T20I version after leading India to glory in the 2024 T20 World Cup in the Caribbean.

Rohit amassed 257 runs in eight matches of the T20I showpiece at an average of 36.71 and a strike rate of 156.71. The veteran batter revealed he would have retired even if India hadn’t won the World Cup. 

Rohit scored 4231 runs in 159 T20I matches at an average of 31.34 and a strike rate of 140.90. As a leader, Rohit faced disappointments after India suffered losses in the semifinal of the 2022 T20 World Cup, the final of the ODI World Cup 2023, and the final of the World Test Championship 2023-25.

“When I announced my retirement from T20Is… agar hum nahi jeet-te (T20 World Cup), toh mai waise he announce kar deta kyuki bahut try kar liya ab. It’s not fair for me to continue; you have to give chances to the others. But after winning, you feel that you still have it in you; you are playing well, and you have given the result as well, so why not? Why not continue? Because this place that you have earned by no means came to you just like that. You worked really hard for it. I know what all I have done in my life and all the things I have gone through to get this. So I have an idea of all these things. So why do you want to leave? If you are batting well, giving results, then why?” Rohit said in an interview with Vimal Kumar on his YouTube channel.

Despite batting at the top of his game in the T20 World Cup, Rohit said he got a feel from within that he should step aside from the shortest format of the game.

“If you are not able to give results, not bat well, and something is going wrong, then it’s okay. Then in any way you have to tell yourselves that ‘Mate, it’s over.’ But I batted well in the T20 World Cup; the result was also good – happy times. Then why? But andar se ek feel aa jaata hai ki yaar abhi yaha par…” he added.

Rohit has scored 300 runs in 11 matches for Mumbai Indians in IPL 2025, which is currently suspended for a week due to escalating tension between India and Pakistan.