Rohit Sharma answered his critics in the best way possible with a magnificent century at Lord's, but the former India captain made it clear that he has never allowed outside opinions to dictate his approach to the game. The veteran opener has been the subject of constant scrutiny during this tour and there were plenty of speculations regarding his future in this format. However, speaking to the BCCI after the match, Rohit insisted that the noise surrounding him has never affected his focus, which has always been to perform for the country.
"My job is with the bat. Come and play, represent my country. That's what I have been told to do since I made my debut. That's what I am going to do. Since I made my debut, the noise was there. Till the time, I am going to be there, the noise will be there. Doesn't matter to me. What matters is what I do on the field. I want to try and contribute to the success of the team. That's all my focus is," Rohit Sharma stated
The former Indian captain said dealing with criticism is simply part of representing the country and insisted his attention remains firmly on what happens on the field rather than the conversations taking place outside it. He said, "If there is no noise, there is no fun. My job is inside. Their job is outside. That's how I look at it."
Rohit reflects on Lord's knock, Virat Kohli partnership and India's defeat
While Rohit's century was one of the highlights of the match, he admitted the innings would have meant much more had India won the match. The opener also spoke about his terrific record in England, saying the conditions continue to test every cricketer.
"I love playing in England. There's no doubt about it. The atmosphere, the ground, the pitches. When you turn up here to play any sort of format, it challenges you in different ways and that's what as a cricketer you want. You want to be challenged all the time. I had my time in the middle. I enjoyed it, but again, like I said, a little disappointed with the result."
"We couldn't finish off the game and get the result in our favour. But yeah, we have to move on from this and try and see how we can get better and see what better we can do as a group. Not just individuals - it's about the group, the collective effort from the group is needed. And that's what I think the team should be focusing on," He added.
The Lord's innings also produced another milestone in Rohit's partnership with Virat Kohli. Their 113-run stand was the pair's 21st century partnership in ODIs, taking them past Kumar Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan into second place on the all-time list. It was the 400th international match these two were playing together.
Looking back at batting alongside his long-time teammate, Rohit said their understanding has been built over years of playing together.
"We've played our entire career together so it was nice to have him in the middle. We've had lot of partnerships. It's always fun batting together. We understand each other so much and yeah, it's always nice in the middle bouncing off ideas, try and see what we can do. So there was [a] lot of conversation that was going around in between when we were batting."
Despite his performance with the bat, Rohit admitted India were left disappointed after falling short in the chase.
"A little disappointed with the result because I thought we were playing really good cricket. How we started in Birmingham, we played some really good cricket. We fell a little short at Cardiff with the bat actually. It was not enough [of a] score on the board. And then here again there was a massive total to chase. We tried everything we could with the bat but again fell 20-25 runs short."
This could have been Rohit Sharma's final match in England, but his innings ensured the conversation around his future will continue. With this memorable knock at the Home of Cricket, the former Indian captain made a powerful statement. If India's selectors are already looking towards the 2027 World Cup, Rohit Sharma has reminded them that his name still deserves to be firmly in the mix.
