Although Rohit will continue to score double hundreds in meaningless games against minnows like Bangladesh, Af... Read More

Mumbai/London. India’s loss in Champions Trophy final against arch rivals Pakistan has claimed its first victim. Talented opener Rohit Sharma today announced retirement from playing against strong oppositions like Pakistan, South Africa, Australia etc, although he maintained that he will continue to score double hundreds in meaningless games against minnows like Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Bermuda etc.

“I have had a satisfactory career of dismal knocks in crunch games against strong oppositions. I really wanted to retire on a low point. And I don’t think I can go lower than scoring a talented duck in a final against Pakistan. So the time is perfect for me to bid goodbye to failing against strong teams,” Rohit explained his decision.

When pointed that his sudden retirement would make it difficult for Indian selectors to find a suitable replacement who comes and starts failing consistently from the word go, Rohit said, “It wasn’t that sudden. If you look closely, it was a very phase wise retirement. I had retired long back from scoring against strong teams, so it was pointless of me to continue playing against them.”

Rohit who is often compared to Sachin lived up to the comparison by failing in final match of an ICC event.

“Although team management assured me that being gifted and Sharma ji’s son was enough for me and I didn’t really need to perform in any match, but I thought I should not take undue advantage of my talent,” Rohit disclosed how he had the unconditional backing of BCCI throughout.

Rohit also requested ICC if they can rename all future ICC tournaments as IPL to make it easy for him to perform.

“If they do that, then I might do a Shahid Afridi and reconsider my retirement,” Rohit declared.

Meanwhile taking a cue from Rohit, teammate Ravindra Jadeja too announced retirement from playing for opposition.