Rohit Sharma's RETIREMENT Predicted Before ICC Champions Trophy 2025 Clash vs Pakistan: 'He is Unlikely to Play...'

ICC Champions Trophy 2025: India captain Rohit Sharma has been facing heat from fans in recent times due to his poor form with the bat. Even before CT 2025 started, there were speculations being made over Rohit's future in the game. Most plaudits have gone on to reckon that this mega event will be Rohit's last. For the unversed, Rohit has already retired from T20I cricket after leading India to the World Cup title in 2024. A day ahead of the much-important ICC CT 2025 game against arch-rivals Pakistan, former cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar has made a big comment. The former India cricketer ruled out the possibility of Rohit playing in the Indian team for the 2027 ODI World Cup . 

‘Could be the final tournament’ - Sanjay Manjrekar

"I have a feeling (that) if he has decided, I mean, can Rohit Sharma be there for the 2027 Cricket World Cup ? I don't think so, very unlikely. So, then, this could be, what you are suggesting, could be the final tournament," he said. "I'm expecting Rohit Sharma to go out there and he should be actually liberated not so much by this being his sort of swansong or whatever, just by the fact that so much of quality batting to come (from him)," Manjrekar said in a virtual meeting on JioHotstar. 

"2023 World Cup (in India) Rohit Sharma's popularity soared. What they loved about Rohit Sharma is that they saw the captain was selfless, went out there… (he) could have got a hundred but (instead) gave a great flying start to the team and made things easier for the players coming after him," said Manjrekar.

IND vs PAK Squads:

India Squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli , Shreyas Iyer, Axar Patel, KL Rahul(w), Hardik Pandya , Ravindra Jadeja, Harshit Rana, Mohammed Shami, Kuldeep Yadav, Rishabh Pant, Washington Sundar, Varun Chakravarthy, Arshdeep Singh

Pakistan Squad: Babar Azam, Imam-ul-Haq, Saud Shakeel, Mohammad Rizwan(w/c), Salman Agha, Tayyab Tahir, Khushdil Shah, Shaheen Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf, Abrar Ahmed, Kamran Ghulam, Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Hasnain, Usman Khan