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It remains to be seen whether the century at the Lord’s on Sunday was eventually Rohit Sharma’s last international innings. However, the Hitman has certainly shut down retirement rumours for now with a century for the ages in the series-deciding ODI against England – becoming the first Indian batter to score a century in this format on the hallowed Lord’s turf.

 The retirement talks had been swirling for the last couple of days following a Indian Express report that the team management (read: Gautam Gambhir) had a one-to-one meeting with the former captain where he was informed that he would not be a part of their future plans. The story said that the team wanted to look beyond the 39-year-old with the 2027 World Cup in mind, though the BCCI quickly jumped on a damage control mode to deny such conversation.

 The buzz around the speculative story, attributed to BCCI sources, was that it could have been a calculated leak – ostensibly to put pressure on the only batter to have scored three double centuries in this format. It's not exactly a well kept secret that the Gambhir-Agarkar duo had not been favourably inclined towards having the Big Two till next year's showpiece in South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Whatever be the reason, it succeed in stoking the white ball giant’s ego for sure as he kept his date with 34th ODI century and become the only one to have scored eight ODI centuries on Indian soil. Virat Kohli also came to the party with an counterattacking 74 as the two masters put together a 113-run partnership for the second wicket - but the 388-run target proved too big a mountain to climb. The hosts hence have dented India's reputation as a formidable white ball side by clinching both the T20I and ODI series.

There was no extravagant celebration after he reached the landmark after a slog sweep off Adel Rashid - reaching the three-figure mark off 84 balls. Rohit simply raised his bat, acknowledged the applause from every corner of Lord’s and took guard again as India were chasing a mammoth target of 388. He did cut loose before falling for 138 – an innings which spoke of character and resolve.

 The decision to play international cricket in only one format since last year ever since he and Kohli bid adieu to Tests in a huff – had left Rohit terribly short of runs in the last few ODIs. He managed only three half-centuries since his ton against Australia in Sydney last year.

 The veteran also looked pale in the first two games, managing scores of 11 and 26 and lacked in intent massively. Faced with a world of pressure, Rohit took his time to settle down as captain Shubman Gill took the role of the aggressor – till he grew in confidence and began unleashing the crisp cover drives and trademark pulls.

  The Lords century by Rohit eclipsed Sourav Ganguly's 90 against England in 2004 as the highest individual score by an Indian at the venue. There was another record to celebrate as well as at 39 years and 80 days, Rohit became the oldest batter to score an ODI century at this venue. He also became the oldest Indian cricketer to score an international hundred across all formats, underlining his ability to continue performing at the highest level despite questions over his future.

8 Rohit Sharma (England)
7 Sachin Tendulkar (UAE)
7 Saeed Anwar (UAE)
7 AB de Villiers (India)
7 Quinton de Kock (India)