Michael Atherton Reflects on Rohit Sharma's Test Retirement
Michael Atherton Comments on Rohit Sharma's Retirement
Michael Atherton, the former captain of England, has expressed his views regarding Rohit Sharma's unexpected retirement from Test cricket. He noted that this decision was not entirely unforeseen, considering the Indian captain's recent performance decline and the team's disappointing outcomes.
On May 7, Rohit announced his retirement via Instagram, just ahead of the selection for India's Test squad for the upcoming tour of England, marking the end of his over ten-year red-ball career.
The timing of this announcement raised questions and sparked discussions about whether the choice was solely his or if it was influenced by the selectors.
"Was that retirement completely his own decision, or did he get a sense that he's about to be pushed, or the axe was coming because there was a report, the day before the announcement from Rohit, that the selectors had decided to move on. So that's speculation, we don’t know," Atherton remarked during a segment on Sky Sports.
Despite the surrounding speculation, Atherton stated that the retirement was not shocking. He emphasized that the combination of poor team performance and Rohit's own struggles left little room for surprise.
"Ultimately, the decision didn't come as a surprise because it's a bad combination for any captain. If you're losing games and not scoring runs, and India had lost 5 out of the last 6 matches under Rohit's captaincy—three against New Zealand and a couple in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy—and his form had really tailed off, that's a bad combination for any captain," Atherton explained.
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‘Always sad when a Test career ends’
While acknowledging Rohit's challenges in the longest format, Atherton also commended his achievements in white-ball cricket. He noted that despite impressive statistics in Tests, Rohit's career did not quite match up to the all-time greats of the format.
"I think people will look at him and say his best format is ODI cricket. He’s going to go down as one of the greatest ODI openers. But it was a funny Test career. He had to wait a long time to get in, and it’s almost a career of two halves in Test cricket. Averaging just over 40 in the end with a dozen hundreds means it’s a successful record but not quite a stellar one," Atherton stated.
Atherton reflected on Rohit's final Test season, which saw India suffer a 0-3 whitewash against New Zealand at home and a 1-3 defeat in Australia. These losses dashed India's hopes of reaching the World Test Championship Final.
Rohit's struggles with the bat were evident, as he scored only 31 runs across three Tests in Australia and chose to sit out the final Test in Sydney, admitting he was not contributing sufficiently.
"He's 38. There’s massive depth in Indian cricket. Given the depth and the level of competition, when form or results go against you, you're not going to be so patient. So in that sense, I didn’t think it was that much of a surprise. But it’s always sad when a Test career comes to an end. He’s been a significant cricketer. His record or stats might not place him in the very top tier of Test cricket, but it’s still a successful career," Atherton concluded.
Rohit made his Test debut in November 2013 and played a total of 67 Test matches, scoring 4301 runs at an average of 40.57.