Image of abhi baaki hai! Outside of bell and egg and bacon ties, Rohit Sharma is keeping his own England tradition alive at Lord’s

Rohit Sharma plays a shot during the 3rd ODI against England at Lord’s. (NOT a photo) TimesofIndia.com in London: Eight years ago, Rohit Sharma summed it up with a line that now seems almost prophetic: “Throw me to the wolves and I’ll come back as the leader of the pack.” When he was dogged by retirement speculation ahead of the Lord’s ODI, the 39-year-old responded exactly as the quote promised, rising above the chatter with an innings that dismissed any question about his future.On Sunday, Lord’s was painted blue for the third ODI between India and England. There are many traditions that define this iconic place: gold and red striped ties, or the egg and bacon tie; the five-minute bell rung by Yuvraj Singh on the occasion; a walk through the Long Room with the honors board on display and the watchful presence of Father Time. Rohit Sharma stood apart from all this. He was greeted with huge cheers during the Nets game the day before, and it continued as the team reached the series decider.In recent days, attention has focused squarely on the 39-year-old man. The third and final ODI was billed as his last. Some reports claimed that his parents attended the milestone. There were rumors of retirement. BCCI Secretary Devajit Saikia had to officially come out and deny that it would be Rohit’s last. Still, that didn’t stop the rumors from working overtime.As for Rohit, he looked completely at ease in his own skin.“Look, my job is with the bat. Come and play, represent my country, represent the team. That’s what I’ve been told to do since my debut and that’s what I’m going to do. The noise has been there since I debuted. And as long as I don’t stay here, it’s always going to be there. So it doesn’t matter what I do on the field and that’s all about success. It’s all about success.” my focus is right now. If there’s no noise, there’s no fun inside, that’s what I’m watching for BCCI.tv.And on the field, Rohit has done what he has done before in this part of the world.Rohit, who opened alongside Shubman Gill with a massive 388 runs in the chase, did what he has done effortlessly over the last two decades. He toyed with the pitchers and walked the innings perfectly. An almost run-a-ball 50 became an 84-ball century as he pressed the accelerator past the 70-run mark. The right-hander quickly switched gears to jump from 69 off 69 to 121 off 100 with a score of 52 runs off 31 balls.

I think the way Rohit bhai paced his innings was excellent

Shubman Gill

“I think the way Rohit bhai has bowled his innings has been excellent,” said skipper Shubman Gill later. “During the over, we talked about whether to go for the bowling or not, but we know it’s not easy to bowl against the new ball. The way he pedaled through the innings and then accelerated was exceptional. Once he got into the 60s and 70s, it was a real treat to watch,” he added.Even though Rohit was limping to finish the singles and the 30% humidity played its part, he chose to tonk the bowlers rather than deal with the singles and doubles with Virat Kohli at the other end. That 121 off 100 became 132 off 107 after double boundaries off Sam Curran, including a brilliant shot towards deep extra cover. Two balls later, Jacob Bethell could only look at the cow corner as Rohit sent the ball for a maximum, his fifth of the day. An unhappy expression could be seen on Bethell’s face. It wasn’t a bad ball. It was just given to the casual Rohit who has done it many times before.

India’s Rohit Sharma plays a shot during the 3rd ODI against England, at Lord’s in London on Sunday. (NOT a photo)

The England bowler got his revenge a ball later when Rohit went for a drive, missed and the ball found his pads before crashing into the stumps and happily dismissing him.Rohit received the admiration and appreciation of the tens of thousands present. His 34th ODI century. His eighth in England. And the first from an Indian at Lord’s. All added to his resume. His impressive and seemingly unfinished biography.The other half of the famous RoKo, Virat Kohli kept the chase alive. The chaser believed even as Rohit departed after his 113-run stand, long after the duo, playing their 400th match together, shared a massive hug after Rohit’s ton. India needed 128 off 68 balls. Was a miracle, a la NatWest 2002, possible?

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

Rohit Sharma

Kohli tried his best. A dropped delivery from Will Jacks allowed the 37-year-old to dance down the track and send it over the bowlers for a maximum. Kohli, with a task to complete, barely lifted the bat to acknowledge his 46-ball fifty, his first at Lord’s. Two balls later, Kohli wristed the ball over deep backward square leg for another six.Meanwhile, Ishan Kishan and Shreyas Iyer have come and gone. Kohli stood in the middle and a colleague chimed in: “Lone warrior again.” The Indian team gladiator then went after Jacob Bethell and hit him for a straight six.But the knock and chase was effectively over after Sam Curran got rid of Kohli for 74 balls off 60, with four fours and three sixes. As always, Kohli was frustrated that he couldn’t finish his job and couldn’t take the team over the finish line.With India losing the bilateral ODI series 1-2 and being beaten by Ireland and England 0-2 and 0-4 respectively in the T20Is, there will be a lot for the BCCI hierarchy to judge. But the journey isn’t over for RoKo, who continue to bring thousands to stadiums and millions to their TVs.“We’ve played together our whole career so it’s been nice to have him in the middle. We’ve had a lot of partnerships. It’s always fun batting together. We get along so well. It’s always nice in the middle to bounce ideas off and see what we can do. So there was a lot of conversation going on while we were batting,” Rohit said of Kohli and their time together at Lord’s.Unless something drastic happens, that time in the middle will continue for at least one more series. Kohli and Rohit have had a contrasting record in this series in their bid to be in South Africa for the 2027 ODI World Cup. While Kohli scored 144 runs from three matches and bounced back after the bounce at Edgbaston, Rohit managed 175 runs in the series after his century at Lord’s.When it comes to rumors of Rohit’s retirement and the end of his 19-year ODI career, the snooze button can be pressed quickly. “He didn’t tell us anything. I think it all came out in the media, but there was no such discussion in the team,” captain Shubman Gill said at the post-match press conference.India’s next ODI is against the West Indies in September, New Zealand in November and Sri Lanka in December.