Former India spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has said that Rohit Sharma’s retirement reports were not just rumours, as there is no smoke without fire, hinting that there was some truth to the story, but Rohit’s sensational innings put an end to it. Despite the BCCI’s attempt to dismiss the rumours, Ashwin feels that speculation was not entirely false before Rohit gave a befitting reply to his critics with a magnificent 138 runs off 110 balls at the Home of Cricket.

His effort went in vain as England thumped India to claim the series by a margin of 2-1 to finish the tour on a high.

The speculation started after a report in the Indian Express mentioned that the ENG vs IND 2026 third ODI could be Rohit’s last appearance in international cricket. Having already bid adieu to T20Is in 2024 and Test cricket in 2025, Rohit wanted to compete in the 2027 ODI World Cup before announcing his retirement.

“You can call Rohit Sharma’s retirement stories outside noise.

I would not call it that. There is a saying in Tamil: ‘There is no smoke without fire,” R Ashwin said.

“There was fire, but he managed to score runs. He showed he can still do it. I don’t think there is any doubt in his mind about his participation in the 2027 World Cup,” Ashwin added.

Despite being under pressure after two failures in the series, Rohit dominated the English bowlers from the start and added over 100 runs with Shubman Gill and Virat Kohli. He hit 17 fours and 5 sixes en route to his 34th ODI hundred.

“Rohit announced his comeback after recovering from an injury.

If he was more confident, his score would have been around the 180-run mark and won the match for India,” Ashwin said.

“Rohit was in good form. They can’t touch Rohit and Virat if the two have decided to play the World Cup. It is because of their records. Rohit has almost scored 12,000 runs in ODIs, and he can’t be touched. They have a massive fan following, and the fan armies would react if the two are dropped from the team. No one can touch them at the moment,” Ashwin added.

Kohli and Rohit will next be seen in action in the home ODI series against the West Indies in September.

They need runs to remain in the scheme of selectors, who have refused to confirm their places in the team for the ICC event in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia.