After the Men in Blue defeated New Zealand at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday to win their third Champions Trophy, Team India captain Rohit Sharma firmly put an end to retirement rumors. During the post-match press conference, the right-handed batter talked candidly about it.
According to a few media reports prior to the final, Virat Kohli will join Rohit in retiring from one-dayers after the eight-team event. Following his bowling performance in the final, Kohli’s embrace of left-arm spinner Ravindra Jadeja stoked speculation about the all-rounder’s impending retirement.
According to Cricbuzz, Rohit said during the news conference:
“I want to clarify that I am not going anywhere, I am not retiring from this format, just to make sure that no rumors are spread going forward.”
Rohit Sharma
Throughout the tournament, the captain showed poor performance but managed to excel on the last match day. After a remarkable bowling performance Rohit scored 76 runs which secured victory with 252 runs. The match’s success was further supported by significant batting performances of KL Rahul with 34* and Shreyas Iyer who scored 48.
Rohit Sharma Praises KL Rahul’s Calmness Under Pressure
During his interview, Rohit spoke about how KL Rahul maintained his composure under pressure and added that the team’s collaboration has brought him great pride. Rohit speaking at the match event presentation noted his birthplace in Nagpur. He said:
“Again, a very solid mind. He never gets overawed by pressure around him. That’s one of the reasons why we wanted to have him in the middle phase, to try and finish off games for us. He picks the right shots to play under pressure situations, which obviously allows the other guys batting around him to come and play freely. For example, Hardik came out and played some really good shots in both games that gave us some freedom. Overall the batsmanship shown by all our batters throughout the tournament was superb.”
Rohit Sharma
Rachin Ravindra’s 263 runs and three wickets earned him the title of Player of the Series.
