Rohit Sharma's parents reach London ahead of 3rd ODI at Lord's

In a significant development, Rohit Sharma’s parents, Gurunath Sharma and Purnima Sharma, have reached London ahead of the third and final ODI of the three-match series between England and India, which is scheduled to take place on July 19 at Lord’s in London.

The Lord’s game is anticipated to be the veteran’s final appearance in the international cricket, as he has already retired from the T20Is after winning the T20 World Cup 2024 along with the same decision from the Test cricket in June last year.

Gurunath and Purnima Sharma land in London days before Rohit's possible final ODI

Rohit’s poor show with the bat in the last ODI innings, including the three-match series at home against Afghanistan, perhaps propelled him to take this decision. The reports claimed that his parents have already made it to London and will be present at the iconic Lord’s ground to watch the third ODI of the series.

It was reported that the home series against Afghanistan could have been Rohit’s last series in the format. But his half-century during the final game of the series in Nagpur pushed the call a bit further. However, the selectors are not convinced yet.

The BCCI selection committee has been trying to look beyond Rohit and give some time to the new and upcoming batter at least a year before the upcoming ODI World Cup 2027 in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia.

"No pressure on a player like him" — Batting coach Sitanshu Kotak backs Rohit ahead of Lord's

After the end of the second ODI in Cardiff against England, where Rohit played a scratchy knock of 26 runs off 47 balls before losing his wicket to Will Jacks while attempting a sweep shot, their batting coach, Sitanshu Kotak, addressed the situation with Rohit.

“I don't think a player as big as Rohit can feel the pressure. He's too good a player to feel that. Yes, he hasn't scored in two games. I don't think that makes any difference. But today also it looked like he'll get a good innings but that's okay.” The Indian batting coach added.

“You might see [a] completely different innings from Rohit Sharma in Lord's. I wouldn't use the word struggling, but maybe the shots he normally plays on the up, which is because of the double bounce, probably he felt it was not comfortable.” Kotak addressed.

Should Rohit call time on his ODI career? What the numbers and selectors say ahead of Lord's

In the last 14 innings of the 50-over format, the right-handed batter has smashed 650 runs at an average of 45.33 with the help of five scores of 50+ knocks, including one unbeaten knock of 121 runs off 125 balls. He has done really well undoubtedly in the last innings of the ODIs, but he hasn’t been able to put up a big score recently.

Rohit showed his aggressive batting during the home ODI World Cup 2023 inside the powerplay and continued the same impressive performance in the Champions Trophy 2025. But he hasn’t been able to do so in recent times, and the final decision could be made at Lord’s.

“Selectors have informed Rohit he is not in their scheme of things post the England tour and they are moving on from him after this series. Though he wanted to continue, especially after working on his fitness. The selectors have left the ball in Sharma’s court to decide his future.” The reports have added.