New Delhi: Indian cricket captain Rohit Sharma has retired from Test cricket. He will however continue to lead the Indian ODI team a role in which he recently led them to victory in their third Champions Trophy. Rohit Sharma retired from Test cricket on Wednesday May 7 via a social media post. This announcement preceded the selection of Indias Test squad for the upcoming England series which also initiates the new World Test Championship cycle. Following his Test cricket retirement Rohit Sharma addressed criticism of his batting performance. He acknowledged that while criticism is inherent to an athletes career some of the commentary hes faced has been unwarranted. “Criticism is a part of a sportsperson’s life. Criticism is necessary and important. But what I’m against is unnecessary criticism. I don’t like it. There were a lot of things said about me. But I don’t pay attention to any of it and it doesn’t affect me” Rohit said in his two-hour-long interview on YouTube. “So many things have been said about me – like I can’t play left-arm fast bowlers and many other things – but now I don’t pay attention to it anymore. If you go and defend everything you will waste a lot of time. And time is precious. My work is to attack” he added. Indias recent Test performances under Rohit Sharmas captaincy have been underwhelming. Two consecutive series losses eliminated India from contention for the World Test Championship final. Furthermore a home series defeat to New Zealand last year marked Indias first such loss since 2013. Sharmas tenure as Test captain concluded with these setbacks. Rohit Sharmas poor batting form forced his withdrawal from the final Border-Gavaskar Trophy Test against Australia exacerbating an already difficult situation. Following Indias 3-1 series loss speculation arose regarding potential changes to the team for the next World Test Championship cycle with the BCCI possibly considering younger players over some senior members including Rohit. Rohit Sharmas retirement from Test cricket wasnt unexpected given Indias recent poor performance and his own inconsistent batting form. While his IPL 2025 Impact Player role for Mumbai Indians initially saw underwhelming results his batting improved as the season progressed.