"There Was Fire": R Ashwin's Big Admission On Rohit Sharma Retirement Chatter
Media reports claimed that the series finale at Lord's could be Rohit Sharma's last game for India in the format and that the selectors no longer saw him in their plans for the World Cup.
- R Ashwin refused to believe that the speculation surrounding Rohit Sharma was all outside noise
- Ashwin said that Rohit certainly has put a full stop to the debate surrounding him with his statement knock
- "There is no smoke without fire. There was fire, but he scored runs. He showed he can do it," said Ashwin
Former India captain Rohit Sharma's retirement rumours spread like wildfire during the recently concluded ODI series, only for BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia to confirm that the speculation had no basis in reality. Rohit's poor start to the series - following back-to-back low scores - paved the way for speculation over his future. Media reports claimed that the series finale at Lord's could be his last game for India in the format and that the selectors no longer saw him in their plans for the World Cup. A day after Saikia confirmed that Rohit will continue to play beyond the England series, the veteran batter put an end to the debate surrounding him for the time being, slamming 138 in the series decider at Lord's.
However, Ashwin refused to believe that the speculation surrounding Rohit was all outside noise, saying that there was more to the rumours.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Ashwin said that Rohit certainly has put a full stop to the debate surrounding him with his statement knock.
"See, when the news of Rohit Sharma's potential retirement broke. Okay, you call it outside noise. I won't call it that. There is a saying in Tamil: 'There is no smoke without fire'. There was fire, but he scored runs. He showed he can do it. In his mind, I don't think there is any doubt that he can play the 2027 World Cup," Ashwin said.
Ashwin suggested that the only thing stopping Rohit from cementing his place in the team for next year's World Cup is his own fitness.
"I feel that this is Rohit's road to a comeback after an injury. If he were in a slightly better state or were more confident, he could have scored 180 and won the match for the team. I felt like Rohit was in really good form," he added.
Ashwin explained that the BCCI cannot push either Rohit or Virat Kohli out of the team that easily because of what they have done for Indian cricket, as well as the potential backlash it could lead to from their ardent fans.
"They cannot touch Virat and Rohit if they want to play. It is because of their credentials. Rohit has scored almost 12,000 runs; they cannot touch him. The other thing is that they are batters, and if you touch them, they have an army. People come to see them. If you drop them, it will just bring the roof down," said Ashwin.
India Cricket Team
Rohit Sharma
Virat Kohli
Ravichandran Ashwin