The Disappearance of Rohit Sharma — What Led to the Sudden Test Retirement?

Only a few weeks ago, Rohit Sharma was busy planning for the England tour. Now, he has retired. What went wrong?

Trying to make sense of Rohit Sharma's retirement from Test cricket.

(Photo: BCCI)

At the start of 2025, when India’s Test squad rolled into Sydney for the traditional New Year’s Test, plenty of questions faced them.

The most important amongst them was related to their Test skipper Rohit Sharma’s form. In the three preceding Tests, Sharma had failed spectacularly as both skipper and batter. Before that, against Bangladesh and New Zealand at home, he had struggled to get going.

The most glaring issue was the losses in Test matches, especially at home to New Zealand under Sharma’s leadership.

But Sharma managed to dodge those questions consistently, because like with most other things around Indian cricket, he was given a free pass as he had led the side to a T20 World Cup victory in mid-2024! Two different formats, yet, Sharma’s leadership skills were enough for him to hold onto the Test and ODI job as well.

From ‘I’m Not Going Anywhere’ to ‘I’m Gone’

Sharma remained defiant all through his struggles in his last nine Tests in charge as India's skipper. Even after he reached Sydney and decided to sit out the Test, there was speculation that he would eventually, at the end of the game, announce his retirement.

But we all know his now famous interview to Star Sports, where he defiantly announced: ‘I am not going anywhere.’ Everyone assumed that was a euphemism for 'I am not retiring.'

With communication not being the strongest suit of the Indian cricket system, more speculation came up over Sharma’s future. The confusing calendar of Indian men’s cricket squads makes it difficult to compartmentalise decisions around leadership and personnel.

Rohit Had Selected Himself for the England Tour, Not Very Long Ago

It was almost assumed that, much like it happened with him post the T20 World Cup, Sharma had earned the gatepass to be India’s Test captain on the upcoming England tour as well.

As it happens in the subcontinent, most former players also weighed in, calling for Sharma to be India’s Test captain in England. The likes of Navjot Singh Sidhu and Sunil Gavaskar felt that Sharma had shown enough skills to be the Test captain.

Again, the nonsense that India won the Champions Trophy under Sharma was trotted out as an excuse for him to be retained as India’s Test captain. The fact that Sharma’s meagre returns with the bat were also a factor in questions being raised about him was conveniently forgotten!

Then, in early April 2025, Sharma gave an interview to former Australian captain Michael Clarke on his podcast, Beyond 23. In that, Sharma not only selected himself as the Test captain for the England tour, but he also even picked out key bowlers Mohammed Shami and Jasprit Bumrah as the lynchpins for the series.

It was assumed that once again fact had been defeated in Indian cricket. After all, Indian cricket runs on white ball triumphs, rather than on red ball victories. Hence, it was assumed that the victory in Dubai had ensured that Sharma would be India’s Test captain.

But something changed, and that is what makes the whole episode of Sharma’s sudden retirement from Test cricket on Wednesday very curious. For the past week, we have had speculative stories about Sharma, the Test match leadership and the possible vice-captain on the tour.

Everything seemed a done deal about a fortnight ago. But much like with the T20I leadership, which was handed to Suryakumar Yadav and not to Hardik Pandya, the national selection panel led by Ajit Agarkar stood firm. Agarkar & Co. defied conventional Indian cricket logic and went by hard facts. It is believed that they prevailed over Sharma and convinced him that it is very difficult for him to travel to England as India’s Test captain. There is no way the selectors or the head coach Gautam Gambhir can justify Sharma’s presence in the Test XI.

It was this plain fact that finally forced Sharma to announce his retirement quite tamely. The mode of announcement confirmed that Sharma’s hand was forced by the selectors led by Agarkar.  The Board also deserves criticism for mishandling the whole process of Sharma’s retirement. Will any other country let their regular Test skipper announce his retirement via an Instagram story? After all, the story lasts for just 24 hours!

We, the extended cricketing ecosystem, deserve every opportunity to hear from Sharma on the reasons behind his sudden retirement. Remember, just over a month ago, he was selecting himself and picking key players who could help India win the Test series in England for the first time since 2007. What changed?

Can Indian Fans Expect Closure?

Do we not deserve an opportunity to know more?

Sadly, Indian cricket does not think we deserve to know more. After all, in 2014-15, we had a similar script play out in Indian cricket, when Mahendra Singh Dhoni attended a post-Test press conference and then an email from the board announced his retirement from the format.  We still do not know why Dhoni announced his retirement from Test cricket so abruptly, and will probably never know what transpired.

Let us hope for Indian cricket’s sake, that this time, there is some transparency on the Test leadership issue rather than more cloak-and-dagger stuff. Like it happened with the T20I leadership in 2024, we had a series of stories around the contenders, and then one fine day, Yadav was anointed the captain. Something similar could well play out this time.

Rohit Deserved a Dignified Exit

Sharma took over India’s Test captaincy at a difficult time with Kohli quitting the role abruptly in early 2022. Sharma was not keen on the role, and the then BCCI president Sourav Ganguly is on record saying that he forced him to take up the role. For such a reluctant leader to last for two and a half years is a big achievement.

He deserves some respect from Indian cricket in the form of a dignified exit from the Test format. Let us hope better sense prevails.

The one significant fallout of this retirement, though, is that for the first time India could end up having three captains for three different formats. After all, the board and Sharma himself have announced that he will continue to lead India in ODIs.

If the designated Test vice-captain Bumrah does take over as the captain, then we could have an interesting time in next year’s IPL. Mumbai Indians would end up having India’s T20I captain, ODI captain and Test leader all playing under Pandya!  Now that will be a sight to behold, but before that, let us fix this communication faux pas and understand what changed between January to April to May for Sharma to quit abruptly.