Picture abhi baanki hai! Away from the bell and egg-and-bacon relationship, Rohit Sharma is keeping his own England tradition alive at Lord’s | Cricket News
TimesofIndia.com in London: Eight years ago, Rohit Sharma summed himself up in a line that now feels almost prophetic: “Throw me to the wolves and I’ll come back leading the pack.” As retirement speculation engulfed him ahead of the Lord’s ODI, the 39-year-old responded exactly as promised, rising above the chatter with an innings that dismissed every question about his future.On Sunday, Lord’s was painted blue for the third ODI between India and England. There are many traditions that define this iconic place: the gold-and-red ties, aka the egg-and-bacon tie; the five-minute bell, rung by Yuvraj Singh on this occasion; a walk through the Upper Room with the Honors Board on display and the watchful presence of Father Time. Aloof from all this stands Rohit Sharma. He was welcomed during the nets session a day earlier with many cheers, and it continued as the team arrived for the series decider.For the past few days, the focus has been on the 39-year-old. The third and final ODI was billed as his last. Some reports say that his parents were present for this milestone. Rumors of retirement are rife. BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia should officially come out and deny that this is the end of Rohit. However, this did not stop the rumor of working overtime.As for Rohit, he looks completely in his own skin.“Look, my job is to bat. Come and play, represent my country, represent the team. That’s what I’ve been told to do since my debut, and that’s what I’m going to do. The noise, since my debut, has been there. And until the time I stay here, it will always be there. That’s my only focus now. And let the noise be there. Without noise, there is no fun. My work is inside, their work is outside. That’s my view,” he told BCCI.tv after the match.And on the field, Rohit did what he has done before in this part of the world.Opening next door Shubman Gill with a whopping 388 runs to chase, Rohit did what he has done effortlessly for the past two decades. He plays the bowlers as his innings runs perfectly. A close run-a-ball 50 turned into an 84-ball century as the accelerator was pressed after the 70-run mark. The right-hander quickly shifted gears to jump from 69 off 69 to 121 off 100, scoring 52 off 31 balls.
I think Rohit bhai’s way of his innings is amazing
Shubman Gill
“I think the way Rohit bhai runs his innings is amazing,” skipper Shubman Gill said later. “During the Powerplay, we talked about whether we should continue bowling or not, but we knew it wasn’t easyto attack against the new ball. The way he walked his innings and then accelerated was amazing. When he got into the 60s and 70s, it was something to watch,” he added.Despite Rohit limping while completing the singles, with 30% humidity playing its part, he chose to tonk the bowlers rather than face singles and doubles. Virat Kohli at the other end. That 121 off 100 turned into 132 off 107 following twin boundaries off a Sam Curran, including a cracking shot towards deep extra cover. Two balls later, Jacob Bethell could only watch in the cow corner as Rohit sent the ball flying over the top, his fifth of the day. One could see the pitiful expression on Bethell’s face. It wasn’t a bad ball. It was only beaten by an in-form Rohit, who had done it many times before.
![London [England]Jul 19 (ANI): India's Rohit Sharma plays a shot during the 3rd ODI...](https://static.toiimg.com/photo/msid-132509811/london-england-jul-19-ani-indias-rohit-sharma-plays-a-shot-during-3rd-odi.jpg "Rohit Sharma of India plays a shot during the 3rd ODI against England, at Lord's in London on Sunday. (THIS picture)")
Rohit Sharma of India plays a shot during the 3rd ODI against England, at Lord’s in London on Sunday. (THIS picture)
The England bowler got the ball back later as Rohit went for a sweep, left, and the ball found his pads before crashing into the stumps for a lucky dismissal.Rohit received the praise and adulation of the tens of thousands in attendance. His 34th ODI century. His eighth in England. And the first of an Indian in the Lord. All added to his resume. His impressive and seemingly unfinished resume.The other half of the famous RoKo, Virat Kohlikept the chase alive. The chasemaster believed even when Rohit walked out after their 113-run stand, long after the duo, playing their 400th match together, shared a big hug to Rohit’s tune. India need 128 from 68 balls. Is a miracle, a la NatWest 2002, possible?
We’ve been playing together our whole career, so it’s nice to have him in the middle. We have many partnerships. It’s always fun to be together. We are very smart.
Rohit Sharma
Kohli tried his best. Will Jacks’ thrown delivery allowed the 37-year-old to dance down the track and send it over the bowler’s head for a maximum. Still with work to finish, Kohli barely lifted his bat in recognition of his 46-ball fifty, his first at Lord’s. Two balls later, Kohli uses his wrists to send the ball over deep backward square leg for another six.In the middle, Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer came and went. Kohli stood in the middle, and a colleague shouted, “lone warrior again.” The gladiator of the Indian team then went after Jacob Bethell, hitting him for six in a row.But the knock, and the chase, effectively ended after Sam Curran dismissed Kohli for 74 off 60 balls, laced with four fours and three sixes. Kohli, as always, was disappointed that he couldn’t get the job done and couldn’t guide the team across the finish line.
With India losing the bilateral ODI series 1-2, beaten 0-2 and 0-4 by Ireland and England, respectively, in the T20Is, the BCCI hierarchy has a lot to check. But for RoKo, which continues to bring thousands to stadiums and millions to their TV sets, the road is far from over.“We’ve played our whole career together, so it’s nice to have him in the middle. We have a lot of partnerships. It’s always fun batting together. We understand each other very well. It’s always nice in the middle, bouncing ideas and trying to see what we can do. So there’s a lot of conversation going on while we’re batting,” Rohit said of Kohli and the their time together in between.Unless something drastic happens, that time in between will continue for at least one more series. Kohli and Rohit have contrasting report cards from this series as they bid to make it to South Africa for the 2027 ODI World Cup. While Kohli scored 144 runs from three matches, bouncing back after a blip at Edgbaston, Rohit raced to 175 runs in the series after his century at Lord’s.As for the rumors of Rohit’s retirement and the end of his 19-year ODI career, the snooze button can be easily pressed. “He didn’t tell us anything. I think it was all in the media, but there wasn’t any discussion like that in the team,” said skipper Shubman Gill in the post-match press conference.India’s next ODI assignment is in September against the West Indies, with more in store against New Zealand in November and against Sri Lanka in December.
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