Rohit Sharma playing a shot during the third ODI against England at Lord’s. (ANI photo)

TimesofIndia.com in London: eight years ago, Rohit Sharma Summed himself up with a line that now seems almost prophetic: “Throw me to the wolves and I will come back leading the pack.” As speculations mounted about his retirement ahead of the Lord’s ODI, the 39-year-old responded exactly as that quote promised, rising above the chatter to play an innings that dismissed every question about his future.Lord’s was painted blue for the third ODI between India and England on Sunday. There are plenty of traditions that define this iconic venue: the gold-and-red-striped tie, aka the egg-and-bacon tie; A five-minute bell was rung by Yuvraj Singh to mark the occasion; Strolling the Long Room with a display of the Honors Board and the watchful presence of Father Time. Rohit Sharma was standing away from all this. He was welcomed with great enthusiasm during the net session the day before and this continued when the team arrived for the series decider.In the last few days, the focus was entirely on the 39-year-old. The third and final ODI was considered to be his last ODI. Some reports claimed that his parents were present for the milestone. Rumors of retirement were spreading. BCCI Secretary Devjit Saikia had to come out officially and deny that this would be Rohit’s last chance. Still, that didn’t stop rumor mongers from working overtime.As far as Rohit is concerned, he looked completely comfortable in his look.“Look, my job is with the bat. Come and play, represent my country, represent the team. That’s what I’ve been asked to do since my debut, and that’s what I’m going to do. There’s been noise since I made my debut. And as long as I’m here, it’ll always be there. So it doesn’t really matter too much. What matters is what I do on the field, try and contribute to the success of the team. That’s it.” That’s my focus right now. And let the noise be there. If there’s no noise, there’s no fun. My work is inside, their work is outside. “That’s the way I look at it,” he told BCCI.TV after the match.And on the field, Rohit did what he has done before in this part of the world.opening with Shubman Gill Chasing a mammoth target of 388, Rohit did what he has been doing with ease for the last two decades. He played with the bowlers while giving excellent pace to his innings. 50 runs in almost one ball became a century in 84 balls as the accelerator was pressed after 70 runs. The right-handed batsman quickly changed gears from 69 off 69 to 100 off 121 and scored 52 off 31 balls.

Captain Shubman Gill later said, “I think the way Rohit bhai carried his innings was brilliant.” “During the powerplay, we talked about whether we should go after the bowling or not, but we know it is not easy to attack against the new ball. The way he set up his innings and then accelerated was extraordinary. Once he got into the 60s and 70s, it was really something to watch,” he said.Even as Rohit was limping while completing singles, with 30% humidity playing its part, he opted to toy the bowlers rather than deal with singles and doubles. Virat Kohli at the other extreme. 121 out of 100 became 132 out of 107 after two boundaries in Sam Curran’s over, including a powerful shot to deep extra cover. Two balls later, Jacob Bethel could only look towards cow corner as Rohit sent the ball flying for a maximum, his fifth of the day. A helpless feeling could be seen on Bethel’s face. It was not a bad ball. This was simply bowled to the in-form Rohit, who has done this many times before.

India’s Rohit Sharma plays a shot during the third ODI against England at Lord’s in London on Sunday. (ANI photo)

The England bowler got his revenge a ball later as Rohit went for the sweep, missed and the ball bounced off his pads and hit the stumps, resulting in a lucky dismissal.Rohit accepted the praise and appreciation of the thousands present. His 34th ODI century. His eighth in England. And the first by an Indian at Lord’s. Everything added to his resume. His impressive and yet-to-be-finished resume.The second part of the famous Roko, Virat KohliKept the chase alive. The Chasemaster still believed when Rohit walked away after his score of 113, long after the two, playing their 400th match together, had shared a big hug after Rohit’s century. India needed 128 runs from 68 balls. Was a miracle like NatWest 2002 possible?

We played our whole career together, so it was nice to have him in the middle. We have done a lot of partnerships. Batting together is always fun. We understand each other very well.

Rohit Sharma

Kohli tried his best. Will Jack’s bouncy delivery allowed the 37-year-old to dance down the track and send the ball over the bowler’s head at maximum pace. With the job still left to complete, Kohli barely lifted his bat as he conceded his half-century in 46 balls, his first at Lord’s. Two balls later, Kohli used his wrists to send the ball over deep backward square leg for another six.In between, Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer kept coming and going. Kohli was standing in the middle, and a colleague shouted, “The lone warrior again.” After this, the gladiator of the Indian team went after Jacob Bethel and hit him for a straight six.But the knock and the chase effectively ended after Sam Curran dismissed Kohli, who made 74 off 60 balls with four fours and three sixes. Kohli, as always, was disappointed that he could not get the job done and take the team across the finish line.

India losing the bilateral ODI series 1-2, losing to Ireland and England 0-2 and 0-4 respectively in the T20Is will be a lot for the BCCI hierarchy to assess. But for Roco, which continues to bring thousands to stadiums and millions to their TV sets, the road is not over.“We have played our entire career together, so it was good to have him in the middle. We have made a lot of partnerships. It’s always fun to bat together. We understand each other very well. It’s always good to have him in the middle, to bounce ideas off and try to see what we can do. So there was a lot of conversation going on while we were batting,” Rohit said about Kohli and his time together at Lord’s.Unless something drastic happens, that time in between will continue for at least one more series. Kohli and Rohit had contrasting report cards this series in their bid to be in South Africa for the 2027 ODI World Cup. While Kohli scored 144 runs in three matches, making a comeback after a setback at Edgbaston, Rohit scored 175 runs in the series after his century at Lord’s.As far as rumors of Rohit’s retirement and the end of his 19-year-old ODI career are concerned, the snooze button can be pressed quickly. “They haven’t told us anything. I think it’s all in the media, but there has been no such discussion in the team,” captain Shubman Gill said in the post-match press conference.India’s next ODI matches are against West Indies in September, New Zealand in November and Sri Lanka in December.