With the announcement of Rohit Sharma’s immediate retirement from Test cricket, India will have to select a new full-time skipper shortly after the 2025 Indian Premier League concludes. India’s five-Test series in England is set to start at Headingley on June 20.

“Hello everyone, I would just like to share that I 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,” Rohit, who had retired from T20Is after India won the T20 World Cup last year with him as captain, said in a post on social media on Wednesday evening.

The BCCI gave him the rich tribute of calling it the end of an era. With Rohit’s retirement, vice-captain Jasprit Bumrah and 25-year-old Shubman Gill emerge as formidable candidates for the Test captaincy.

Now, if he kept doing this, it would be on the eve of India’s Test series against England, set to begin in Leeds on 20 June. It was alleged that selectors might have been exploring a change in leadership, citing his recent form as a rationale, which had seen him average only 10.93 over the last year.

In 67 Tests, Rohit amassed 4,301 runs at an average of 40.57, including 12 Test hundreds. After that, he was handed over the Test captaincy from Virat Kohli in 2022 and led India in 24 Tests, winning 12.

Rohit, though retiring from Tests, will keep on playing ODIs. He has a record score in ODIs, 264, and is the only batsman to have scored three double hundreds in ODIs.

Ritika Sajdeh, his wife, reacted to his retirement with a heartfelt social media post accompanied by a series of heartbreak emojis.