Rohit's endgame, too soon an arrival?

CHENNAI: One more tear to cry, one teardrop from your eyes. Rohit Sharma’s illustrious ODI career might be coming to an end quite soon, possibly at Lord’s this weekend.

Having retired from the other two formats, it was viewed that the upcoming ODI World Cup in 2027 was going to be the last dance.

A World Cup trophy, ticked off, ideally could have been quite possibly the most fitting send-off to one of the greatest ODI cricketers that the format has seen. But now the 39-year-old will have to settle for Lord’s farewell and in circumstances that he wouldn’t have predicted coming into the three-match series.

Just weeks before the England tour, it seemed like Rohit was still an essential part of India’s ODI scheme of things, with the 39-year-old being among the first to arrive in the nets and one of the last to walk away. While on a few occasions, he was beaten by the odd bounce, it all withered away when Rohit was out there on the field in Chennai.

He ran the clock back and struck a 69-ball 79 with nine fours and three sixes; an average of 47.66 in the series pointed towards that.

But now that era of lazy elegance is in its endgame, with one impending finale. Where did it all go wrong, or did it even go wrong in the first place? The clock had started ticking as soon as Shubman Gill took over the reins as India’s ODI skipper, with Yashasvi Jaiswal waiting in the wings. Jaiswal’s surge in form 116* and 110* in two of his last three innings has indeed pushed Rohit’s place to the hilt, and possibly for no mistake of his.

Since the Champions Trophy success in 2025, Rohit has been part of India’s ODI plans in four series before England, and his average reads: 101 (in AUS), 48.66 (vs SA), 26 (vs NZ), 79 (vs AFG), showing no signs of rustiness. In fact, the 39-year-old is in a phase of his life where he’s proven himself more than ever, having worked hard on his fitness, losing a lot of body fat, working on areas that have often been his kryptonite while still having an aggressive game to take on the evolving ODI format.

Not just that, think of this, close your eyes and assume the World Cup in South Africa, what kind of batters do you think would dominate? Ones that can take on pace and bounce, right? Or was it just a picture of Rohit that you had in your head? Yet, his career seems to be at a crossroad, purely on the basis of two innings, where he looked clueless, scratchy, ineffective, you get the drift. If things do come to an end at Lord’s, how would Rohit’s legacy be viewed?

Would it be as someone who redefined ODI cricket batting? Or someone who led one of the most dominant ODI sides in history? Or merely as someone who holds the record for the highest ODI score, and a few failed attempts at lifting the World Cup?

Sometimes careers don’t end because they are still no longer good enough. They end because time finally catches up with opportunities. If Lord’s ODI is indeed Rohit’s last, Indian cricket will be bidding farewell to the format’s greatest architect.