"ODI World Cup 2023…" Ricky Ponting speculates why Rohit Sharma hasn't retired from ODI cricket

Rohit Sharma-led Indian side lost the 2023 ODI World Cup final to Australia.

Rohit Sharma made history by leading India to the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 title. He became only the second Indian captain to win at least two ICC titles, alongside MS Dhoni.

He played a captain’s knock in the final, scoring 76 off 83 balls to give his team a strong start in a tricky run-chase of 252 runs.

After the victory, when asked about his future plans, 37-year-old Sharma made it clear that he has not thoughts of retiring from this format of the game and will take it one game at a time.

Former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has now shared his thoughts on what may have led Rohit to make this decision.

Ricky Ponting believes ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 loss is key to Rohit Sharma’s ODI retirement stance

Speaking to the ICC Review, Ponting suggested that Rohit likely has a specific goal in mind for not announcing his ODI retirement after the tournament. He noted that when a player is batting as well as Rohit did in the final, retirement shouldn’t be an option.

Ponting said, “When you start getting to that point of your career, everyone is waiting for you to retire, And I do not know why, when you can still play as well as he has played , I think he was just trying to put those questions to bed once and for all and say, ‘no, I am still playing well enough.“

“And I think, the fact that he said that, to me, it means that he must have that goal in mind of playing in the next World Cup.“

The legendary Australian captain stressed that Rohit would aim to win the ICC Cricket World Cup 2027 to avenge the 2023 World Cup defeat.

He added, “I think probably the fact that they lost the last one and he was captain, that might be the thing that’s playing on the back of his mind.“

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