Ricky Ponting on Rohit Sharma’s decision to continue playing: Unfinished business from 2023 World Cup may be on his mind | Cricket News
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting said that a sense of unfinished business may have played a role in Rohit Sharma’s decision to continue playing international cricket, quashing the rumours of his retirement.
Ponting said losing the final of the 2023 World Cup could have kept the fire burning within Rohit to give the 50-over title one last shot. India, under Rohit’s captaincy, sailed through to the final of the 2023 edition before falling to Australia in the decider. The 2027 World Cup will be held in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.
“I think probably the fact that they lost the last one and he was captain, that might be the thing that’s playing on the back of his mind,” Ponting was quoted as saying by The ICC Review. “Just have one more crack at trying to win the T20 World Cup, the Champions Trophy, and the ODI World Cup. I mean when you see him play like he played in the Champions Trophy final, you wouldn’t say that his time is up just yet.”
Rohit’s future in India colours has been a topic of high speculation over the last few months, and it was rumoured that he would retire after the Champions Trophy, which India won last Sunday after beating New Zealand.
However, the India captain quashed those rumours. “One more thing, I’m not going to retire from this format, just to make sure no more rumours are spread,” Rohit said after the final.
Ponting agreed with Rohit’s decision to not draw curtains on his career. “When you start getting to that point of your career, everyone’s waiting for you to retire,” Ponting said. “And I don’t know why, when you can still play as well as he’s played (in the final), I think he was just trying to put those questions to bed once and for all and say, ‘no, I’m still playing well enough. I love playing in this team. I love leading this team.’ And I think, the fact that he said that, to me, it means that he must have that goal in mind of playing in the next (50-over) World Cup (in 2027).”
