Rohit Sharma may have ended retirement speculations with a brilliant century at Lord’s, but there is still no clarity on whether he is part of India’s plans for the ICC ODI World Cup 2026.
Amid the uncertainties, 1983 World Cup winner Madan Lal has come out in full support of the former Indian captain. He believes that Rohit should continue playing as long as he is performing well and scoring runs for the national team, as he is only active in ODI cricket.
Rohit Sharma got huge support after Madan Lal talked about retirement.
Rohit Sharma’s future in international cricket is in the news, with many reports claiming that he will retire after the last ODI against England at Lord’s. However, the Hitman silenced his critics after some mediocre performances with a brilliant 138 off 110 balls. Meanwhile, Madan Lal has blamed the selectors for Virat Kohli’s Test retirement.
As the former Indian captain has not announced his retirement, Madan Lal has emphasized that every cricketer has to retire one day but if a player is still performing well then there is no reason to ask him to quit. He said that if Rohit is still contributing with the bat then he has every right to continue playing.
Madan Lala said on KADAK YouTube channel, “Everyone has to retire one day. Be it today or tomorrow, every player has to leave the field eventually. But if Rohit Sharma is performing well and still wants to play, then people should just keep quiet.”
If you dare, go ahead and drop him. After all, he is performing. It should be like this. It shouldn’t be that you go to him and say, ‘You are no longer in our plans.’ He has every right to ask, ‘Why?’ I am scoring runs and playing well, so why am I not in your plans?”
Madan Lal praised Rohit Sharma’s unique batting
The former Indian all-rounder also said that Rohit brings something special to the batting order. He pointed out that very few batsmen can dominate a bowling attack with the same ease and range of shots that Rohit has shown throughout his career, especially in white-ball cricket.
Explaining his point further, he said, “I don’t understand why we keep chasing players. Anyone who plays for the country cares about his performance. He wants to perform and perform well. We need a player like Rohit Sharma.”
The kind of shots he can play and the way he can bat, no one else in our team can do that. I have never seen anyone batting like him in Indian cricket. We have many great players, but Rohit has a different style of batting.”
Madan Lal defended Rohit Sharma, said- a player cannot win every match
The former Team India manager also reminded everyone that cricket is a team game and no player can win every match alone, hence it is unfair to blame Rohit for the team’s struggles.
Lal signed off by saying, “Look, if Rohit Sharma plays five matches and wins just two of them for me, he is a very good player for me. No one can win every match, and no captain can lead the team to victory every time.”
Notably, Rohit has scored 379 runs, including one century and one half-century, in nine matches so far in 2026 at an average of 42.11 and a strike rate close to 100.
