Rohit Sharma’s Retirement and A Quick Recap of ICC 2025 Champions Trophy Final
Key Highlights
Rohit Sharma has clarified that he he is not retiring from ODI format after ICC 2025 Champions Trophy.
India have won the ICC tournament final by 4 wickets against New Zealand.
All eyes are now on upcoming IPL 2025 which starts on March 22, 2025.
The ICC Champions Trophy 2025 has concluded and the world has a winner. India vs New Zealand was a tough contest as the latter was brave enough to defend a low mark of 251. It was not a child’s play but Mitchell Santner remained calm, led the side, and proved their spot in the finals of the ICC tournament. As teams were walking to the stage, one question about Rohit Sharma was doing a round everywhere.
The Indian cricket team captain for the ICC 2025 Champions Trophy expressed a composed reflection during the press conference. Rohit Sharma put a pin on his plan to retire from the ODI format. In fact, he may have signed on behalf of Virat Kohli too.
Rohit Sharma’s Retirement Plan After ICC 2025 Champions Trophy
Aged 37 and ready to run at 38 by the end of April 2025, Rohit Sharma has clarified that he has no immediate plans of retiring from the ODI format. Rumors were emerging from every corner that the conclusion of the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 would be his walk away from the format. Thereby, giving space to a young talent like Yashasvi Jaiswal, or someone like Sanju Samson.
According to a report by The Economic Times, Rohit Sharma said that he is not going to retire and has urged media organizations to not spread rumors of any kind. Also known as Hitman, Rohit Sharma said that Virat Kohli is also going to continue playing ODI cricket.
Earlier reports had stated that the BCCI wanted Sharma to lay out his plans after the ICC tournament. This was taken as a hint to retire so that other players could join the squad.
Rohit Sharma is now the second Indian captain to have won multiple ICC tournament trophies. He brought the T20 World Cup in 2024 and successfully chased down the Champions Trophy. Only MS Dhoni has won these two trophies plus the ICC ODI World Cup. Assuming Sharma is looking to leave behind the same legacy, then he would only be able to do it by the end of 2027. That is when the next ICC ODI World Cup is tentatively scheduled to happen.
Moreover, he will be 40 years old at that time which may not give him enough strength to compete through a 50-over format.
Quick Recap: India vs New Zealand ICC 2025 Champions Trophy Final
The Indian Cricket Team lost the toss, again, and was handed over the task of bowling in the first innings. Santner chose to bat first so that spinners from his side could dominate the second innings - which they did. However, New Zealand probably sidelined the fact that the Indian side was playing with a deeper batting line-up and a better set of spinners.
New Zealand set the target of 252 runs with a loss of 7 wickets after 50 overs. Daryl Mitchell looked uncomfortable at the beginning but silently set a milestone of 63 runs off 101 balls. He was finally dismissed by Mohammed Shami with the assistance of Rohit Sharma who got the ball stuck on his hands for no mistake at all.
Michael Bracewell backed the New Zealand cricket team with 53-off-40 balls and picked up 2 wickets in a spell of 10 overs, giving away just 28 runs. Rachin Ravindra’s bat was left cold with just 37 runs off 29 balls. Letting him stay on the pitch any longer would have meant seeing him bring up a hundred.
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Rohit Sharma led the side with a score of 76 runs off 83 balls. He handed his wicket by stepping out from the crease in an attempt to hit a six. Nevertheless, Sharma did his job well and so did Shreyas Iyer who might have finally cemented his image as a number 4 batter. KL Rahul stayed on the ground till the end and finished the job with Ravindra Jadeja.
Indian spinners brought the side back at a time when New Zealand was looking too comfortable at a strike rate of over 7 runs per over. Kane Williamson’s dismissal opened the door to opportunities and India, that is Bharat, got back into the game. Rohit Sharma won Player of the Match and Rachin Ravindra took home Player of the Tournament.
What’s Next in Cricket?
All eyes are now on the upcoming Indian Premier League 2025, or IPL 2025. The first IPL match will be held between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bangaluru (RCB) on March 22, 2025, at 7:30 pm IST. JioHotstar will broadcast the entire IPL 2025 tournament.
Administered by BCCI, IPL started in 2008 and will kick off its 18th season. A match between Mumbai Indians (MI) and Chennai Super Kings (CSK) will happen on March 23, 2025, at 7:30 pm IST. It has been tagged as an unofficial tournament opener.
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