'We consider them great batters...': Rajeev Shukla breaks silence on rumours around Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli's ODI retirement

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) vice president Rajeev Shukla has finally broken silence around Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli's Test retirements and also cleared the rumours, claiming that the BCCI wants Rohit to retire from ODIs as well. He confirmed that the batting duo will continue in the 50 over format.

Since Rohit and Virat announced their sudden retirement from whites in May, there has been chatter in the cricket fraternity on the reason behind the decision, with speculation that the decision was forced upon the legendary duo by the BCCI.

After team's poor outing in the 2024-25 where the Indian Test team lost a home Test series to New Zealand and were whitewashed 3-0 before losing the Border-Gavaskar Trophy to Australia after a gap of a decade, Rohit and Virat's decision to retire from longest format of the game sparked suggestions that the Indian team wanted to move towards a younger group of players in the longest format.

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However, BCCI vice-president Rajeev Shukla turned down all the suggestions and stated that the BCCI have a strict policy of not telling any player when to retire. He also confirmed that the duo will remain available for the ODIs.

"I want to make it very clear once and for all. We all feel Rohit and Virat's absence, but they took the decision on their own. BCCI has a policy of never telling any player when to retire and from which format. This is on the player. This was their own decision. They took retirement on their own. We will always miss them. We consider them great batters. The good thing is they are available in ODIs," said Shuka in an interaction with ANI.

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli last represented India in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025, where the Men in Blue defeated New Zealand in the final at Dubai International Stadium in Dubai to win the title. However, it's still unclear when Rohit and Virat will be next seen in action, since India's tour of Bangladesh was postponed.