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Former India spinner R Ashwin has shared his view on that retirement rumour stuff around Rohit Sharma after the ODI series against England. Ashwin said, he feels there was maybe something real in those reports, even if later the Indian Cricket Board said it’s all wrong.

Around the third and final ODI at Lord’s, reports came out saying Rohit had been told that it would be his last ODI for India. Along with that it was also talked about that the senior opener had some sort of differences, with chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar and head coach Gautam Gambhir. But then, just two days before the game, the Indian Cricket Board secretary Devajit Saikia shut it down and made it clear Rohit was not retiring from ODI cricket.

And Rohit the whole lot in a proper way, scoring 138 runs off 110 balls. This was the first ODI century by an Indian batter at Lord’s, though India still couldn’t manage the chase of 388 and in the end, they lost the series decider.

On his YouTube channel, Ashwin said he doesn’t think these kinds of reports just show up randomly, without any reason, or without any spark somewhere.

Ashwin said:

“See, when the news of Rohit Sharma’s potential retirement broke. Okay, you call it outside noise. I won’t call it that. There is a saying in Tamil: ‘There is no smoke without fire’. There was fire, but he scored runs. He showed he can do it. In his mind, I don’t think there is any doubt that he can play the 2027 World Cup.”

Ashwin also gave praise to Rohit for how he batted at Lord’s. He felt the opener was still finding his groove again, after coming back from an injury picked up during IPL 2026.

He added:

“I feel that this is Rohit’s road to a comeback after an injury. If he were in a slightly better state or were more confident, he could have scored 180 and won the match for the team. I felt like Rohit was in really good form.”

Rohit’s century has now boosted his chances of staying in India’s ODI plans ahead of the 2027 World Cup.

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Ashwin also talked about Virat Kohli’s future, and in his view, both of these senior batters have done enough to keep their place in the Indian team, as long as they keep scoring runs.

According to Ashwin, their experience, along with the kind of records they have, makes it almost impossible for selectors to drop them from the squad.

He further said:

“They cannot touch Virat and Rohit if they want to play. It is because of their credentials. Rohit has scored almost 12,000 runs; they cannot touch him. The other thing is that they are batters, and if you touch them, they have an army. People come to see them. If you drop them, it will just break the roof down.”

Even though Virat Kohli has stayed consistent in ODI cricket, Rohit’s recent results have been a bit uneven since Shubman Gill became India’s ODI captain. Still, that big century at Lord’s, the match-winning type, has again underlined that he can deliver when it matters most.

India will now take on the West Indies in a three-match ODI series at home, starting on September 27. That run might be another solid opportunity for Rohit and Kohli to keep proving themselves, and strengthen their spot in India’s thinking for the 2027 ODI World Cup.