'Only Reason Is...': Rohit Sharma Opens Up About His Decision To Retire From T20Is

After leading India to the T20 World Cup 2024 title win in Barbados on June 29, 2024, Indian men’s cricket team captain Rohit Sharma announced his retirement from the shortest format of the game. The two-time T20 World Cup winner finished his T20I career with 4231 runs in 159 matches. He scored five centuries and hammered as many as 205 sixes during his 17-year-long career.

Rohit, who is the most capped player in T20Is history along with the batter with most runs, sixes, and centuries, has opened up about his decision to retire from T20Is recently and said he decided to bid goodbye to T20Is because it was the best time for him to move on and there are so many good players who can do well for India.

He, however, clarified that he is not thinking about retiring from Tests and ODIs in the near future.

“No no no. The only reason I retired from T20Is was because I’ve had my time. I enjoyed playing the format. I played for 17 years, and I did well. When you win the World Cup… this was the best time for you to move on. It was time to move on and look after other things. There are a lot of good players who can do well for India,” Rohit said during an interview on Fittr’s YouTube channel.

“So, that was not because I felt anything. I just felt it was the right time. I can still play all three formats easily. That’s why I say that fitness is in your mind and how you train it. I believe everything is in the mind, I have a lot of self-belief because I know I can control my mind. It’s not easy, but I know most of the times, I can do that. If you tell your body you’re young, you can do that,” he added.

The 37-year-old right-handed batter, who succeeded Virat Kohli as India’s all-format captain in November 2021, also opened up about the importance and role of fitness in cricket.

“To play for 17 years, I am close to 500 games now, for India, internationally. 500 games, not a lot of cricketers globally have played. There must be like very few numbers who have played that much. To have that longevity, there has to be something about your routine. How you go about playing the game. How you manage your fitness, mind, and how you train yourself. And how do you get ready for the game, most importantly. At the end of the day, our job is to be 100% ready for the game and perform to win games, and then in that preparation comes fitness.”

Rohit is currently leading India in a two-match Test series against Bangladesh, the second game of which is taking place at Green Park Stadium in Kanpur these days.