Rohit hasn’t told us anything about retirement, says skipper Shubman Gill

India skipper Shubman Gill says senior star Rohit Sharma has not spoken to him about his international future, which has been a subject of intense speculation for the past few days.

Before the third ODI at Lord’s on Sunday, in which Rohit smashed a majestic hundred albeit in a losing cause, rumours had swirled that the match would be his last for India. But BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia issued a firm denial.

The 39-year-old Rohit, who only plays the 50-over format now, eventually silenced his critics by becoming the first and the oldest Indian batter to score an ODI hundred at Lord’s even as the team lost by 27 runs. Gill was asked whether the ‘Hitman’ had intimated anything to him about his future. “I mean, we have not had a chance (to speak to him). He’s (Rohit) not told us anything. I think it’s all out in the media. But there has not been any discussion like that,” Gill said.

Gill was all praise for Rohit’s 138 off 110 balls and the manner in which he paced his innings that had 17 fours and five sixes. “I think the way Rohit Bhai paced the innings, it was great. Most of the time I was on the non-striker end watching. The conversation was mostly that if we keep the wickets in hand, then only there will be a chance to chase such a big score.

“In Powerplay, we were talking that whether to go to hit or not, but we have seen that hitting with a new ball is not that easy. I think the way he paced his innings, and then the way he accelerated after reaching 70, it was great to see,” he said.

Why no Kuldeep Yadav? Gill explains: Gill and coach Gautam Gambhir received a lot of flak for ignoring Kuldeep Yadav across all three games, whereas England used multiple spinners to good effect.

Asked why Kuldeep wasn’t played, Gill admitted that in hindsight, it seemed that two spinners could have been played on this track.

“So the matches that we played prior to this, we had seen the wickets get a little bit slower. When we were bowling and when Axar bhai was bowling, it didn’t look like the wicket will get that slow, but when they (England) came into bowl, it did look like the wicket got a tad bit slower as the game went on,” Gill said.

Also, Gill said that whenever Indian spinners bowled, it seemed as if they were going on defensive. “Whenever spinners came in to bowl, we felt like we kind of had to go into defensive route. Whenever the fast bowlers were bowling, it felt like something was happening. And that was thought process behind not playing an extra spinner,” he reasoned.