A couple of weeks before the selection meeting for the England Test series, Rohit Sharma announced a shock retirement from red-ball cricket. Even after dropping himself from the playing XI for the fifth Test against Australia, Rohit had confirmed that he wasn't retiring and is still the captain of the Test team.

Rohit's success in the 2025 Champions Trophy further bolstered his chances of retaining captaincy but the selectors had other plans. Rohit shared an Instagram story to announce his retirement from the longest format of the game.

"Hello everyone, I would just like to share that l am retiring from Test cricket. It's been an absolute honour to represent my country in whites. Thank you for all the love and support over the years. I will continue to represent India in the ODI format," he wrote on Instagram.

The timing of Rohit's post was an interesting one and he seemingly paid tribute to MS Dhoni with it. Rohit shared the post exactly at 19:29. For the unversed, Dhoni announced his retirement from international cricket at 19:29 on August 15, 2020.

Dhoni backed Rohit for nearly six years and even dropped the likes of Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir to accommodate him in the playing XI. This was probably Rohit's way of paying tribute to his former captain.

Dhoni deserves huge credit for reviving Rohit's career. Rohit could only fix his spot in the white-ball teams after being given the opening job by Dhoni early in 2013.

“I believe the decision to open in ODIs changed my career and it was a decision taken by MS Dhoni. I became a better batsman after that. In fact it helped me understand my game better, react better according to situations," Rohit told PTI in 2017.

“With no disrespect to other great Indian captains, I was blessed to play under MS all these years. His calmness in pressure situations helped us. He always led from the front. There won’t be one like him."

Rohit made his Test debut against West Indies in 2013 and kicked off his career with back-to-back centuries. He finished his Test career with 4301 runs in 67 Tests. Rohit hit 12 centuries and 18 half-centuries. He led India to 12 wins from 24 matches.

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