India captain Rohit Sharma has dismissed rumours of his retirement after leading his side to triumph in the Champions Trophy.
The opener’s half-century set up a successful chase for India in Dubai as they prevailed against New Zealand by four wickets to secure a second successive major tournament title after T20 World Cup success last year.
India have now just lost once, in the 2023 World Cup final to Australia, in the last three ICC events, establishing themselves as the world’s dominant white-ball side with Sharma, now the 10th leading scorer in one day international (ODI) history, a key component as both captain and tone-setting opener.
Speculation over the 37-year-old’s future had built in recent weeks, though, particularly after he was left out of the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia in January.
But Sharma emphatically dismissed talk that he may bow out of ODI cricket as he celebrated another success for his side.
“I’m not going to retire from this format, just to make sure that no rumours are spread going forward," Sharma declared, having already bowed out of T20 international cricket last year.
“It is a great team achievement for the team to win two ICC trophies and to go undefeated is the icing on the cake. I have seen very few teams that have won two tournaments undefeated.
“For us, the most important thing was that we come here and prepared and played the opposition. We used the conditions well and won. Future plan... there's no future plan, whatever is happening will keep happening."
India played all of their games at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium during the tournament after refusing to travel to Pakistan, the host nation.
