Rohit Sharma on Wednesday announced his retirement from Test cricket. Rohit’s last Test appearance was in Melbourne during the fourth Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. However, for the fifth Test in Sydney, Rohit dropped himself.“I spoke to the coach and the selector, and they kind of agreed, well, there was an argument around it,” Rohit told former Australian captain Michael Clarke during the Beyond23 Cricket podcast. “I had to be honest with myself. I wasn’t hitting the ball well. I didn’t want to put myself there only because we had dropped the other guys who were struggling as well.“I didn’t have a great game (in Adelaide). Then I went back to the room, and I was like, I should have opened, man. I would rather fail doing what I do and where I do it. That’s my place, that’s my position. I would rather go there and bat, whether I get success or not, it’s a different story. But I’m in my natural position for the team,” he told Clarke.
Rohit had struggled in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in Australia, which India lost 3-1. He averaged just 6.20 in five innings and also dropped himself for the final Test at the Sydney Cricket Ground. Before that, Rohit had a forgettable time in India’s 3-0 home series defeat to New Zealand, averaging just 15.16. However, back then in Australia, Rohit had said that he had no immediate plans to retire and that he believed he could turn around his form.
“I have come from such a long distance; I have not come here to sit outside or to not play the match,” Rohit had told Star Sports in Sydney.Who’s that IPL player?“I have to play and make the team win, and from the first day when I came to the dressing room in 2007 till now, I have been thinking that I have to make the team win.“But sometimes you have to understand what is the need of the team. If you do not put the team first, then there is no use. That is why we call it a team, because eleven people are playing, not one person or two people; eleven people are playing, so it is a team. Whatever is the cost to the team, try to do that.”
Rohit’s career batting average was 40.57 across his 67 Test matches, including 12 hundreds and 18 half centuries.India are due to face England in a five-Test series this summer, starting at Headingley on June 20.
