Former selector Jatin Paranjpe believes that Rohit Sharma’s potential in Test cricket remained largely unfulfilled. Sharma surprised many by announcing his retirement from red-ball cricket just before the squad for the England tour was announced, leaving the team in a scramble for a new leader.
Jatin Paranjpe recalled a revealing conversation with Sharma, saying, “I remember he was not playing Test cricket for India… he said, ‘I started playing cricket with a red ball, Jatin. How can you say that I am not interested in Test cricket?’” He added that he was “hoping that was what he would say” during that talk on the A Century of Stories podcast with Cyrus Broacha.
Paranjpe also expressed disappointment in Sharma’s decision to drop himself from the final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Sydney. “I think Rohit Sharma could have done a lot more in Test cricket. … I was a little bit disappointed he chose to drop himself in Sydney because we could have levelled the series,” he said.
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Jatin Paranjpe stressed that Sharma might have been the key to levelling the contest in Australia, but he stepped aside following just 31 runs in three Tests.
He also highlighted the pivotal moment when Ravi Shastri moved Sharma to open the batting, calling it a transformative decision. “That was Ravi Shastri’s idea… Ravi is 3–4 steps ahead… when it comes to reading the game,” Jatin Paranjpe acknowledged.
A breakthrough came when Sharma became a red-ball mainstay in 2019. From 2020 to 2024, he delivered a string of dependable performances at the top of the order. However, a drastic dip followed, with Sharma averaging just 10.93 over his last 15 innings, prompting his retirement announcement on May 7, 2025.
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Having scored 4,301 runs in 67 Tests at an average of 40.57, including 12 centuries, Sharma’s white-ball legacy remains intact. Yet Paranjpe remains firm in his belief that Sharma’s red-ball story still has many chapters left. The selector ended on a note of poignancy: the “Hitman” retired too soon, quitting the format just as India prepared for a new chapter under Shubman Gill in England.
