Gautam Gambhir stirs the internet with one-line reaction to Rohit Sharma's Test retirement
Gautam Gambhir took to X to share his thoughts after Rohit Sharma publicly announced his decision to retire through an Instagram story update.
India head coach Gautam Gambhir used three adjectives to describe India captain Rohit Sharma after he announced his retirement from Test cricket and they were enough to draw the attention of the netizens. Gambhir called Rohit a master, a leader and a gem to sum up the opener's journey in the longest format. Rohit would be the first one to admit that despite all the potential, he couldn't quite translate it into results but he he would also go down as the first Indian captain to drop himself from the playing XI due to poor form.
Gambhir, who has shared the dressing room with Rohit - both were part of India's T20 World Cup-winning team in 2007 - both as players and coach and captain, took to X to share his thoughts after Rohit publicly announced his decision to retire through an Instagram story update.
"A master, a leader & a gem!" Gambhir wrote with a photo of Rohit.
Gambhir gave an open-ended reply when asked about Rohit and Virat Kohli's future ahead of the England tour. The chatter around Kohli, 36, is not particularly high-decibel, but there are questions about his future, too.
"First things first, a coach's job isn't selecting the team. It is the job of selectors to select. The coach only selects the 11 who will play a match. Neither those who coached before me were selectors nor am I a selector," Gambhir, who was speaking at the ABP News' 'India At 2047' Summit, tried to steer clear of commenting on the fortunes of the senior players.
When pressed harder, Gambhir replied, "Till the time they (Rohit and Kohli) are performing, they should be a part of the team. When you start and when you end, is your individual decision.
"No coach, no selector, no BCCI can tell you when you should call it quits. If you perform, then why 40, you can jolly well play till 45, who's stopping you?" he quipped.
India will tour England for five Tests starting June 20.
Rohit will continue representing India in one-day internationals. “It’s been an absolute honour to represent my country in whites," he wrote on Instagram. “Thank you for all the love and support over the years.”
Rohit struggled during the 2024-25 season, averaging just 10.93 runs in 11 innings over eight tests. Overall, he scored 4,301 runs in 67 tests, an average of 40.57, with 12 centuries for the national team. He replaced Virat Kohli as captain in March 2022 and guided India to 12 wins, nine losses and three draws, while scoring 1,254 runs during that time.
It was a captaincy that ended with back-to-back series losses — a record 3-0 home defeat to New Zealand and a 4-1 loss to Australia that knocked India out of the 2025 World Test Championship.
