The Lord’s ODI between India and England was touted to be Rohit Sharma’s last in the Indian shirt, but the veteran opener’s valiant hundred in the match has put the retirement chatter to a halt. On Tuesday, Rohit was in the stands as The Hundred 2026 campaign kicked off with the first match between MI London and Sunrisers Leeds at the Kia Oval. Seeing Rohit watching the match at the Kia Oval, India’s former coach and commentator for the match, Ravi Shastri, couldn’t resist speaking about the debate around his future.

Shastri didn’t mince his words over the chatter around Rohit’s future, saying his hundred at Lord’s was a “tight slap with the bat”.

“Well, the hitman is in, Ravi. Yes, he’ll be nice and relaxed after silencing his critics. A lot of noise made before that last one-day international, and then a reply, a nice tight slap with the bat. 138. His first hundred at Lord’s. Yeah, he’s seen it all, five titles for the Mumbai Indians as captain,” Shastri said in the commentary box during the match.

Several former cricketers have shared their opinions on the future of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli. Ravichandran Ashwin took a rather bold stance, saying the duo can’t be touched by the selectors or the team management.

“They cannot touch Virat and Rohit if they want to play. It is because of their credentials. Rohit has scored almost 12,000 runs; they cannot touch him. The other thing is that they are batters, and if you touch them, they have an army. People come to see them. If you drop them, it will just break the roof down,” Ashwin said on his YouTube channel.