India’s selectors have quietly decided that Sunday’s third ODI at Lord’s will be Rohit Sharma’s last cap, according to a senior BCCI source, even though nobody in the room plans to actually tell him to retire. The priority now is Yashasvi Jaiswal, the young opener the panel wants to hand roughly twenty games before the next World Cup. Rohit still gets to choose his own ending. He just won’t be picked again.
It is a near replay of the standoff that followed his Test retirement last year, except this time a World Cup cycle is on the line, and the selectors are the ones setting the deadline.
The Verdict From Cardiff
Ajit Agarkar, the chairman of India’s senior selection committee, is in Cardiff as the touring selector for this series, and those around the panel say his mind is made up. Rohit does not figure in the group’s planning for the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, whatever happens at Lord’s on July 19.
The series itself is level at 1-1. India won the opener at Edgbaston, then England leveled things at Sophia Gardens in Cardiff, bowling India out for 233 as Virat Kohli and Shreyas Iyer made half-centuries around him. Rohit’s own contribution that day was 26 off 47 balls, ended by a catch off Will Jacks after he survived one skied chance earlier in the innings. He had opened the series with 11 at Edgbaston. Across his last eight ODIs, that stretches his tally to just 241 runs at an average of 30.1 and a strike rate of 88.6, with a single half-century.
A BCCI source explained the thinking to PTI on condition of anonymity.
The national selectors are keen that Yashasvi Jaiswal who scored two hundreds in three innings get a longer rope. There are around 20 games and Jaiswal needs to be given those 20 games.
The same official added that head coach Gautam Gambhir and Agarkar are aligned on one exception. Virat Kohli remains an automatic pick given his current form and fitness, even though he and Rohit are close in age.
Jaiswal’s Case Built Itself in Chennai
The selectors reportedly made their call even before this tour, in the weeks after India’s home series against Afghanistan in June. Rohit declined to sit out the third ODI in Chennai to give Jaiswal a game, so Shubman Gill, the ODI captain, moved himself down to bat at number three to fit Jaiswal into the side anyway. Jaiswal answered with 110 not out off 86 balls.
That knock was his second century in three ODI innings, part of a run that has left him with 285 runs from just six innings at the top of the order. Two form lines tell most of the rest of the story.
| Metric | Rohit Sharma | Yashasvi Jaiswal |
|---|---|---|
| Career ODI matches | 287 | 6 |
| Career ODI runs | 11,757 | 285 |
| Recent form | 241 runs in last 8 ODIs (avg 30.1) | Two centuries in last 3 innings |
| Highest score | 264 vs Sri Lanka, 2014 | 110 not out vs Afghanistan |
| Career centuries | 33 | 2 |
Rohit remains the only batter with three ODI double hundreds, a record that includes the format’s highest individual score of 264 against Sri Lanka, but selectors say they are weighing that legacy against what he can still produce right now.
Fitness is part of the calculation too. Rohit will be past 40 by the time the World Cup begins in late 2027, and team management has told associates it is unsure he can sustain a full fifty-over workload for another cycle. Playing only ODIs since retiring from Tests and T20Is has reportedly made it harder for him to find rhythm between series, with little domestic cricket to fall back on.
Who Actually Gains From This Handover?
Jaiswal gains a guaranteed run at the top of the order once Rohit steps aside, and India gains an opening option already tested before the 2027 World Cup. Kohli gains nothing new; he was never in question, a contrast selectors have had to defend even as they push Rohit toward the exit.
Kohli’s own numbers make the double standard easier to explain than to defend. He made a half-century alongside Iyer in the very Cardiff innings where Rohit struggled to 26, and he recently became just the third Indian to reach 100 One Day Internationals in South Africa, England, New Zealand and Australia, a group known in Indian cricket shorthand as SENA, joining Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni. Former India batting coach Sanjay Bangar has publicly defended the selectors’ different approach to Kohli and Rohit’s ODI futures, arguing that form and fitness are driving the split.
If Rohit does step aside, the succession picture is already forming.
- Yashasvi Jaiswal – the left-handed opener already earmarked for the job, with two ODI centuries in his last three innings and an existing opening slot in Test cricket that makes the switch feel like a natural extension of his current role.
- Ishan Kishan – 1,093 ODI runs at an average of 43.72 and a strike rate of 106.94, including the fastest double century in ODI history, scored off 126 balls against Bangladesh in 2022.
- Abhishek Sharma – not yet an ODI fixture but India’s most explosive T20I opener, with 1,618 runs from 52 innings at a strike rate of 190.35.
None of the three has Jaiswal’s current momentum, which is why selectors keep returning to the same twenty-game figure.
A Committee That Has Broken This News Before
This is not the first time Agarkar’s committee has delivered news Rohit did not want to hear. He was stripped of the ODI captaincy last year, when it passed to Gill, and his own reaction to being left out of the leadership picture before a series against Australia made clear he did not take that call quietly either.
The two sides remember his Test retirement differently, too. Those close to the selection committee say they did not want Rohit deciding his own future after playing just two of five Tests in England last year. People close to Rohit say he never intended to play only two games and had made himself available for the entire series. He announced that retirement himself, on his own terms, the same way he ended his T20I career hours after lifting the 2024 T20 World Cup on June 29, 2024.
The panel has shown the same instinct elsewhere this year. It has already stripped Rishabh Pant of the Test vice-captaincy and his ODI spot, a reminder that reputation alone has stopped buying time under this group.
Rohit’s résumé as captain is not in dispute. Under him, India reached the 2023 ODI World Cup final and later won the 2024 T20 World Cup and 2025 Champions Trophy, a haul that makes this handover read as a scheduled changeover after a long, decorated run.
What Happens After Lord’s
If Lord’s is the end, there is no vote on it. Rohit decides when to say so, the same way he announced his last two retirements, and selectors say they will not push him publicly.
Not everyone around the team is reading the moment the same way.
- India’s batting coach Sitanshu Kotak played down any pressure on Rohit after Cardiff, telling reporters, “I don’t think a big player like Rohit Sharma can have any sort of pressure. He’s too good a player to feel that.”
- Former India batter Sanjay Manjrekar has argued the opposite case, saying on air, “In that space, I don’t think Rohit Sharma would be my choice in the squad.”
- The selectors themselves have picked a middle path, telling PTI the retirement decision is Rohit’s to make even as they build the next twenty games around Jaiswal.
India’s next ODI assignment is a home series against West Indies in September, the first series of whatever comes next. Whatever Rohit does at Lord’s on Sunday, the selectors already have their answer: the next twenty games belong to someone else.
Frequently Asked Questions
Has Rohit Sharma announced his retirement from ODI cricket?
Not yet, as of July 17, 2026. Rohit has made no personal statement. Selectors have only said they won’t pick him again after Lord’s, leaving the announcement itself to him, just as he chose to reveal his T20I and Test exits on his own terms.
What is Rohit Sharma’s career ODI record?
Rohit has played 287 ODIs for India, scoring 11,757 runs at an average of 48.58 with 33 centuries. He owns the highest individual score in ODI history, 264 against Sri Lanka in 2014, and the most sixes hit by any batter in the format, 364.
Who is most likely to replace Rohit Sharma as India’s ODI opener?
Yashasvi Jaiswal is the clear front runner. He already opens for India in Test cricket, which makes an ODI handover feel like a natural next step, and he has scored two centuries in his last three ODI innings. Ishan Kishan and Abhishek Sharma are the other names selectors have discussed, though neither has forced the issue the way Jaiswal has.
Why are selectors moving on from Rohit Sharma before the 2027 World Cup even starts?
Form is only part of it. Rohit will be past 40 by the time the tournament begins in late 2027, and selectors reportedly reached their decision as far back as June, after India’s home series against Afghanistan, well before this England tour exposed his batting further.
When does India’s next ODI series begin?
A home series against West Indies opens in September 2026, the first assignment selectors have pencilled in for a new-look opening pair, part of the run of near-twenty ODIs the panel wants Jaiswal to bank before the World Cup.
