Bad News For Fake News Peddlers, Rohit Sharma Going to Extend His Career | Opinion

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Like the proverbial second wind, Rohit Sharma has decided to give himself more time in Indian cricket, at least till the 2026 ODI World Cup. It needs to be respected the current Indian cricket captain in Tests and ODIs has planned on getting more fit and possibly stretch his career a few more years.

Lest one construe Rohit Sharma as unfit on any account just because he has a midriff bulge, that is not an issue. To the contrary, there are many athletes without having to be over-reliant on WO (weight optimisation) to play. Rohit appears slightly chubby and if he has said he will work harder on fitness, according to a cricket website report, that's great news.

One needs to weigh all this in totality in Indian cricket and see what is the roadmap ahead. For those who like to dabble in kite flying and speculation, by now Rohit should have 'retired' more than a few times if some critics had their way.

How this happened is due to planted stories, purported misunderstanding between him and coach Gautam Gambhir. It is well-known, from all accounts, Rohit Sharma has a brilliant rapport with all the players, Virat Kohli included, as well as the BCCI.

Off late, Rohit has spoken more on officials interviews what is the equation between him and the players. He has been able to motivate a whole new generation of players, Varun Chakravarthy included, and also strike the right rapport with the seniors.

It is almost banal to talk of retirements at this stage. Rohit saying that he will be around till the 2027 ODI World Cup is positive news. So what if he is going to be pushing 40, if he can keep that hunger going, nothing like it.

Today, Rohit is being spoken of as a legendary leader in Indian cricket, someone who has sealed two ICC trophies for India in nine months, the T20 World Cup and the Champions Trophy. Both these exploits have shown he is the master of white ball cricket. Of course, there is no need for any comparison between him and MS Dhoni, a maverick leader, who still plays in the IPL.

Another important fact which also comes into play today is how the fitness of Jasprit Bumrah has become more than a contentious issue. At one stage, after the chaos of the BGT Series, where India lost badly Down Under, all hell broke loose. Knives were out and blame games had begun.

Bumrah is yet to return to cricket and whether he plays the IPL soon or not for Mumbai Indians is not the question. Someone like Shand Bond has rightly pointed out, Bumrah's back injury is indeed serious.

Bind had himself undergone trauma and followed Indian cricket closely, the IPL included, If Bumrah has to preserve his back and stretch his career, his workload management will have to be very strict. So, he can well forget full-time Test captaincy.

In the larger interest, both Rohit Sharma and Jasprit Bumrah are important for India. It is hard to imagine a change in Indian Test captaincy at this point of time, ahead of the high-profile Test series in England.

Going by what Shane Bond has said, Bumrah playing five Tests now can be like 'killing' him. It is that serious, since bowling in T20 cricket and Tests is so different. Bowling four overs and going in for long spells in Tests are different. At the same time, those critics who will point out Rohit's poor form in Tests, he will work on that as well. It appears like a message to all fans.

Back to Rohit Sharma, he has also taken 'breaks' in between. There is nothing wrong with that, even Pat Cummins, the Aussie skipper has had to miss a few matches now and then. There will be no furore like in December when Rohit took a short paternity break ahead of the BGT Series.

No player can commit to every match. Last but not the least, Rohit Sharma has shut up the rumour factories for the time being. Do not forget, he has more than a good working relationship with not just the BCCI officials, but also ICC boss Jay Shah!