5 min readUpdated: Jul 19, 2026 10:43 PM IST
The suspense around Rohit Sharma’s future might continue till India’s next assignment in September unless there is an official word. But with an emphatic century at Lord’s in the third ODI, the 39-year-old showed he isn’t going anywhere without a fight. If there is anyone waiting to take his spot, the call should come from the selectors. Chasing 388, more than Rohit, it was a knock that India needed badly. As he slog swept Adil Rashid for a boundary off the 84th delivery he faced, there were no animated gestures or over the top celebrations. He pumped the fists, embraced Virat Kohli, who uttered few words in his ears which brought out a smile and out came the bat, pointing to the dressing room and to his family in the stands.
The lead-up to the series decider had firmly been on Rohit. As reported by The Indian Express, the selectors have already informed him about their decision to move on. The message was relayed to him before the series, and prior to the outing at Lord’s, Rohit had seldom appeared the batsman one had got used to. Both at Edgbaston and particularly at Cardiff, he had appeared a batsman who was perhaps playing with a cluttered mind. The result of it was, no matter how much he tried, he struggled for rhythm.
But on Sunday, Rohit came across as a different batsman. Not that he didn’t struggle. His innings was scratchy at the start, but he showed the hunger to fight it out. And once he got to his fifty at run-a-ball, he appeared a different batsman, accelerating to his century off the next 34 deliveries as he entered the Lord’s honours board for the first time and possibly in his last innings at the iconic venue.
On a pitch where England’s batsmen piled on 387 – the highest ODI score at the venue, the host seamers didn’t make it easy for Rohit and Shubman Gill. With their tight lines and movement off the surface, they asked questions repeatedly. There was an instance where Rohit tried to break the shackles by stepping out and hitting over the straight field, and edged it over slip for a boundary.
Beyond that, he wouldn’t take any undue risk. He would show the respect the deliveries merited. There would be times he would be beaten and respond with a cheeky smile. There would be occasions when he would get the bat down only at the last fraction of a second, with the willow making a sound that revealed the connection was far from the sweet spot. It was almost like the sound of the ball hitting the bat, not the other way round. But Rohit wasn’t minding any of it.
With Rohit showing the courage to fight it out, he would reap the rewards as well. In the seventh over as Josh Tongue came on, he offered a few bad deliveries. First up, Rohit would flick him fine before following it up with his trademark pull. The Lord’s crowd, not for the first time in the day, will start chanting his name. Two deliveries later in the same over, Rohit would deposit one into the square-leg stands – a short delivery, the batsman picking up the length early, and pulling it with total disdain. Suddenly, despite a sedate beginning, Rohit was outscoring the captain.
The road though wouldn’t be smooth. Tongue would tie Rohit down with a maiden. Off three deliveries in that over, as the seamer kept attacking the stumps, he would bring out his flick, but such is the form that all of it went straight to the fielder at mid-wicket. The frustration grew, but the 39-year-old didn’t commit hara-kiri.
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As Sam Curran came on, Rohit wouldn’t let him settle. At Cardiff, the left-arm seamer had troubled him, but here Rohit would get down and sweep him off the stumps. When Curran tried to alter his length by digging one short, Rohit would pounce on it, with a front-foot pull deep into the stands.
With Gill farming a majority of the strike, the rhythm continued to desert him, before successive boundaries off Gus Atkinson – first a sweep and then a scoop, bringing up his fifty. From there on he was a different batsman. The initial years of Rohit’s batting in ODIs is built in the old fashioned way – start slowly, pace the innings and accelerate once he has the hang of the attack and conditions. Here, he followed the template, although the improvisations were visible every now and then. Between 50 to 100, Rohit’s inning was as commanding as any big knocks he has played. When Jofra Archer came back for a spell, he took him head on, but it was the two consecutive sixes off Tongue that showed Rohit was in the mood. Up until then, there was bit of self doubt. But as Tongue delivered one in the slot, with a still head, he tonked it over long-on before hitting the next one over the bowler for another hold the pose shot. That six took him into the 90s, from where the century seemed inevitable.
