Picture abhi baanki hai! Away from the confines of bells and eggs and bacon, Rohit Sharma retains his English heritage at Lord’s. cricket news

Rohit Sharma’s shot during the third ODI against England at Lord’s. (Arnie photo)

TimesofIndia.com London: eight years ago, Rohit Sharma He summed up himself with a line that now feels almost prophetic: “Throw me into the wolves and I’ll come back leading the way.” Retirement speculation swept him ahead of the home team’s ODI and the 39-year-old responded with exactly what that line promised, with an innings that put an end to all questions about his future and transcended the chatter.The Lord’s Stadium was painted blue during the third ODI between India and England on Sunday. There are many traditions at this iconic venue: the gold and red striped tie, aka the egg-and-bacon tie; the five-minute bell rung by Yuvraj Singh; and across the long room, the honors board is displayed and the gaze of Father Time is present. Rohit Sharma stood far away from it all. He received a warm welcome at a Nets game a day earlier and continued to cheer as the team arrived at the series finale.The focus has been on the 39-year-old over the past few days. The third and final ODI was billed as his last. Some reports claim his parents were present at the milestone event. Retirement rumors are rife. BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia needs to officially come out and deny that this will be Rohit’s last. However, that hasn’t stopped the rumor mill from working overtime.As for Rohit, he looked completely at ease.“Listen, my job is to play with the bat. To play, to represent my country, to represent the team. That’s what I’ve been told to do since my debut and that’s what I’m going to do. The noise has been there since my debut. It’s always going to be there as long as I stay here. So it doesn’t matter. That’s what I do out there, give my full contribution to the team. And let the noise exist. If there’s no noise, there’s no fun. My job is on the inside, their job is on the outside. That’s how I see it,” he told BCCI.tv after the game.On the field, Rohit did what he has done before in this part of the world.open side by side Shubman Gill With 388 runs to chase, Rohit effortlessly accomplished what he has been doing for the past two decades. He controlled the tempo of the inning perfectly while toying with the pitcher. When the accelerator was pressed after 70 runs, a near-run 50 turned into an 84-ball century. The right-hander made a quick turnaround, jumping from 69 off 69 to 121 off 100, scoring 52 runs off 31 balls.

“I thought Rohit bhai’s pace of play was outstanding,” captain Shubman Gill said later. “During the Powerplay, we discussed whether we should chase the bowling, but we knew it was not easy to attack the new ball. The way he paces and accelerates during the innings is brilliant. Once he gets into the 60s and 70s, it is truly a joy to watch,” he added.Even though Rohit limped while finishing his singles, he chose to bowl instead of dealing with his opponents in singles and doubles due to the 30% humidity. Virat Kohli on the other end. 121 for 100 turned into 132 for 107 after a double boundary by Sam Curran, including a brilliant shot to deep extra cover. Two balls later, Jacob Bethel could only look towards the horns and Rohit hit the widest shot, his fifth of the day. One can see the unfortunate look on Bethel’s face. This ball is good. It was just bowled to an in-form Rohit, who has done it many times before.

India’s Rohit Sharma takes a shot during the third ODI against England at Lord’s Stadium in London on Sunday. (Arnie photo)

The England bowler did get his revenge later when Rohit went for a sweep but missed, the ball finding his pads and then hitting the stumps for a lucky dismissal.Rohit received praise and appreciation from tens of thousands of people in attendance. His 34th ODI century. This is his eighth in England. The first was made by an Indian in Lord’s Church. All of which were added to his resume. His impressive and seemingly unfinished resume.The other half of the famous RoKo, Virat Kohliallowing the chase to continue. The chase master believed that even as Rohit left after the 113-run stand, long after the duo played their 400th match together, they still shared a huge hug in Rohit’s wake. India needed 128 off 68 balls. Could the National Westminster Miracle of 2002 have happened?

We’ve spent our entire careers together, so it’s great to have him in the middle. We have many partners. It’s always fun to hit the ball together. We know each other very well.

Rohit Sharma

Kohli tried his best. A delivery from Will Jacks saw the 37-year-old dance around the track and send the ball flying over the bowler’s head for maximum overs. Kohli still has work to do and he barely raised his bat as he celebrated his first 46-ball 50 at Lord’s. Two balls later, Kohli wristed the ball over backward square leg for another six.In the meantime, Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer came and went. As Kohli stood in the middle, a colleague chimed in: “Another lone warrior.” India’s gladiator then chased Jacob Besser and hit him for six.But the knock and chase effectively ended after Sam Curran dismissed Kohli with 74 off 60 balls, including four fours and three sixes. Kohli was as frustrated as ever at his inability to get the job done and take the team across the finish line.

With India losing the bilateral ODI series 1-2 to Ireland and England 0-2 and 0-4 respectively in T20Is, the BCCI hierarchy will have a lot to assess. But the road isn’t over yet for RoKo, who continues to bring thousands into stadiums and millions more to watch on television.“We have played our whole career together so it’s nice to have him in the middle. We have a lot of partners. It’s always fun to bat together. We know each other very well. It’s always good to be in the middle, bouncing ideas off and trying to see what we can do. So when we were batting, we had a lot of conversations,” Rohit said about Kohli and their time in the middle order at Lord’s.Unless something drastic happens, the time in between will last at least another series. Kohli and Rohit have had very different track records in their pursuit of South Africa’s bid for the 2027 ODI World Cup. Kohli struggled at Edgbaston, scoring 144 runs in three games, while Rohit scored 175 runs in the series after his century at Lord’s.As for Rohit’s retirement rumors and the end of his 19-year ODI career, the pause button can be quickly pressed. “He hasn’t told us anything. I think it’s all been done in the media but there hasn’t been any discussion like that within the team,” captain Shubman Gill told the post-match press conference.India’s next ODI assignment is against the West Indies in September, with more games in New Zealand in November and Sri Lanka in December.