Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting believes that Rohit Sharma’s decision not to retire from ODIs suggests he has a specific goal in mind: playing in the 2027 Men’s ODI World Cup.

Rohit clinched his second ICC title as India captain when the team beat New Zealand by four wickets to win the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy in Dubai. There had been rumors that Rohit might retire from ODIs, following his decision to step down from the T20I format after winning the World Cup in Barbados last year.

However, the skipper, who top-scored with 76 and was named Player of the Final, dismissed those rumors after winning the Champions Trophy. “When you start getting to that point in your career, everyone’s waiting for you to retire,” he said.

“And I don’t know why, when you can still play as well as he’s played (in the final). I think he was just trying to put those questions to bed once and for all and say, ‘No, I’m still playing well enough. I love playing in this team. I love leading this team.’ And I think the fact that he said that means he must have the goal of playing in the next (50-over) World Cup in 2027,” Ponting said on The ICC Review show.

Rohit had led India to the 2023 Men’s ODI World Cup final on home soil but suffered a heart-breaking six-wicket defeat to Pat Cummins’ Australia in the title clash at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

Ponting believes that a sense of unfinished business might be behind Rohit’s decision to continue as captain until the 2027 ODI World Cup, which will be hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Namibia.

“I think probably the fact that they lost the last one and he was captain—that might be the thing playing on the back of his mind. He probably wants one more crack at trying to win the T20 World Cup, the Champions Trophy, and the ODI World Cup. I mean, when you see him play like he did in the Champions Trophy final, you wouldn’t say that his time is up just yet,” he concluded.

–IANS