Rohit Sharma will lead India into his fourth ICC final as captain when the Men in Blue face off against New Zealand in the summit clash of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 on Sunday, March 9, 2025, in Dubai.
Rohit Sharma is the only captain to lead his team into all four ICC tournament finals: the ICC World Cup, the ICC World Test Championship, the ICC T20 World Cup, and now the ICC Champions Trophy.
However, reports have suggested that this Champions Trophy outcome will also decide the future of the 38-year-old Indian captain as well.
After serving Indian cricket for a long time, not just with his incredible batting skills but also as a leader of the group, skipper Rohit Sharma is expected to decide on his ODI future after the Champions Trophy, regardless of the outcome.
Following the T20 World Cup final in Barbados, both Rohit and Virat Kohli announced their immediate retirement from the shortest format, and as the D-day approaches, there is conjecture that this may be Rohit's final encounter with the India Blues.
According to BCCI sources, Rohit and chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar would meet after the tournament to discuss his future plans.
In Indian cricket, the future of heavyweights is not necessarily decided by selectors, but rather by the players themselves, in consultation with the board's decision-makers. There are too many moving elements, and it is not as straightforward as it may appear.
If India wins the Champions Trophy, the captain may easily announce it, but it is understandable that he wanted to avoid retirement questions on the eve of the big final and hence did not attend the news conference. A
Also, Rohit and Kohli's retirements cannot be grouped. It did happen after the T20 World Cup because there was nothing more they could achieve on the world stage in that format.
Kohli, the Test player, is not going anywhere, and he will be needed in England, given that even someone like Gill has not fared well in SENA countries, and there will be too much pressure on Yashasvi Jaiswal and Rishabh Pant.
But, in the case of Rohit, he volunteered to sit out the last Test in Sydney on the Australia tour, and winning the Champions Trophy does not guarantee that he will regain his red ball mojo.
Will the selectors keep Rohit as captain for England Tests? If he travels to that region of the world, he can play his final Test at home against the West Indies in two matches. Both series are part of the next cycle of the World Test Championship.
However, Agarkar's committee and Rohit have to be convinced that he wants to play a Test series against England. If he does not play Tests, he will only play six away ODIs (3 against Bangladesh and 3 against Australia) before a home white-ball ODI against South Africa in December.
As per the FTP, after the final of the ICC Champions Trophy, Rohit Sharma will have to wait until December to play another white ball 50-over game, unless he chooses to participate in the ODI away series against Bangladesh, the Asia Cup (in Sri Lanka), and three more games in Australia.
If Rohit does not see himself participating in the ODI World Cup in 2027, will he strain himself to play the 50-over format, which is presently the least significant in the bilateral series cycle?
(PTI inputs
