To a team management that refused to talk about individual achievements, a 39-year-old man Rohit Sharma Played an inning that thrilled every cricket fan. Chasing an impossible target of 388 in the series decider and looking to extend his career beyond this match, Rohit on Sunday became the first Indian to score an ODI century at Lord’s. Rohit’s innings of 138 runs in 110 balls is sure to spark a heated debate over his place in India’s ODI World Cup plans. But the caretakers of Indian cricket should not be sad about the fact that India has lost three of the last four ODI series and India lost by 27 runs on a pitch that was closest to the Indian surfaces. head coach Gautam Gambhir They will fly out of London having won just one match on the white-ball tour, which included a T20I whitewash at the hands of Ireland. Shubman Gill has not won any series since taking over the captaincy from Rohit last October. The talk about India’s preparations for next year’s World Cup has largely revolved around Rohit at the top of the order. As he has been doing for some time now, Rohit performed aggressively in the final days of the series. And as India have been doing for quite some time now, their batting is consistently coming second to their opponents in high-scoring matches. Most importantly, it is well established by now that the bowling attack always suffers without Jasprit Bumrah, who sat out the last ODI in Cardiff due to an injury. England’s batting provided ample support to the young Indian bowling attack with Ben Duckett scoring 141 runs off 135 balls and Jacob Bethell scoring 91 runs off 93 balls, followed by Joe Root’s unbeaten 74 off 48 balls and Jos Buttler’s 41 not out off 13 balls. Rohit did what he had to tell the team management and selectors that he did not feel like playing for India. This innings may not have had the flow and series of strokes that Rohit associates with, but it shows his resilience and mental strength of a champion. The start given by Gill and Rohit was strange, with the pair scoring at around 5-5.5 runs per over in the first 20 overs of the chase, with a required run rate close to 7.5 runs per over. Once India were 147 and lost Gill for 77 off 84 balls, Rohit was cut loose and Virat Kohli was intent on chasing this score. Rohit’s struggle against a good length ball on the off stump was evident as he waited for the shorter balls to hit his old pull shot. Once he was fully settled, his first boundary on the field came around 30 overs. It felt like he was in familiar territory with Kohli at the other end. The chase actually started after 25 overs and failed due to Rohit getting injured in the 39th over. With a partnership of 103 runs in about 14 overs, Kohli and Rohit took the time back, but hopes of a miracle were dashed as Kohli was out for 74 off 60.