Rohit Sharma made a sublime 138 runs in the third ODI at Lord's.
Veteran India cricketer Rohit Sharma talked about the rumors of his retirement and his brilliant ton at the Lord’s Cricket Ground during the recently concluded third ODI against England on July 19, 2026. England defeated India by 27 runs in the game and pocketed the series 2-1.
Ben Duckett’s 141 and half-centuries by Jacob Bethell (91) and Joe Root (74*) helped England post 387/3 in 20 overs. In response, Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill (77) gave a good start to India, and Virat Kohli (74) built on it. But once Rohit fell for 138 runs, India lost the plot in front of a huge target and could only muster 360/7 and lost the game by 27 runs.
There were lots of reports stating that Rohit Sharma could play his final ODI at Lord's, as the Indian team management had allegedly talked to him and said that he was not in the plans for the 2027 World Cup. However, BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia clarified that none of the things that were being reported had happened.
Rohit answered those doubts with his 34th ODI hundred—and his maiden century at Lord's—with the 110-ball 138. According to Rohit, he has always prioritized helping the team succeed above listening to what other people think.
"Look, my job is with the bat. Come and play, represent my country, and represent the team. That's what I've been told to do since I made my debut, so that's what I'm going to do. The noise, since I made my debut, was there. And till the time I'm going to stay here, it'll always be there.
So, it doesn't really matter too much. What matters is what I do on the field. Try to contribute to the success of the team. That's all my focus is right now. And let the noise be there. If there's no noise, there's no fun. My job is inside; their job is outside. That's how I look at it,” Rohit Sharma told BCCI.tv.
After adding 147 runs with Shubman Gill for the first wicket, Rohit added 113 runs for the second wicket with Virat Kohli, their 21st century partnership in ODI cricket. This took them to the second spot in the all-time list behind only Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly (26).
"We've played our entire career together, so it was nice to have him in the middle. We've had a lot of partnerships. It's always fun batting together. We understand each other so much, and yeah, it's always nice in the middle, bouncing off ideas and trying to see what we can do. So, there was [a] lot of conversation that was going around in between when we were batting,” he added.
Rohit acknowledged that, despite his own century, India were frustrated after failing to chase down England's formidable total at Lord's, just as they had failed in Cardiff after scoring below expectations.
"A little disappointed with the result because I thought we were playing really good cricket. When we started in Birmingham, we played some really good cricket. We fell a little short at Cardiff with the bat, actually. It was not enough of a score on the board. And then here again, there was a massive total to chase. We tried everything we could with the bat but again fell 20-25 runs short,” Rohit said about the result of the Lord’s ODI.
“When it comes to bowling, you've got to understand these guys haven't played a lot of ODI cricket. You've got to give them some time. But yeah, hopefully we can learn from this game, take it in stride, and make sure when we come across a situation like that [again], we try and better ourselves,” Rohit Sharma said.
Rohit also reaffirmed his love for playing in England, stating that the English conditions still push and challenge him. However, he emphasized that India should now concentrate on developing as a team.
"I love playing in England. There's no doubt about it. The atmosphere, the ground, the pitches. When you turn up here to play any format, it challenges you in different ways, and that's what you want as a cricketer. You want to be challenged all the time. I had my time in the middle. I enjoyed it, but again, as I said, I was a little disappointed with the result.
We couldn't finish off the game and get the result in our favor. But yeah, we have to move on from this and try to see how we can get better and what we can do better as a group. Not just individuals—it's about the group; the collective effort from the group is needed. And that's what I think the team should be focusing on,” Rohit concluded.
(BCCI inputs)