The former Indian Test captain Rohit Sharma's red-ball retirement has been a hoax, with blame games being tossed between the head coach Gautam Gambhir and the Indian management. While fans suspect that the board pressurized Rohit, the board claimed that it was his personal decision. Recently, Jaydev Shah, the former team manager of the Indian men's cricket team, attended a podcast named Voices of Impact with Arjun Mirani, which sheds light on the retirement drama. Shah was with the team till the 2024-24 Border Gavaskar Trophy, which happened to be Ro's last Test tour. What he said on the podcast may not have totally clarified the confusion, but it had a neutral point of view. Shah indicated that Ro had a baby. He even had to miss the Perth Test for his paternal duties before joining the team. As per Shah, Ro was "dropped" from the final, a.k.a the Sydney Test. Shah said, "He had a baby, he came back and he couldn’t make runs. Okay, he was out of form. He was dropped from the last Test, but then he won the Champions Trophy. I think he thought it was time for him to play white ball more than red ball and give another cricketer a chance. I think the board was looking at things like, we have to prepare our team for the next championship. That’s a two-year cycle so it’s better if new players get set and get there.” Indeed. Rohit Sharma came in the middle of the final Test at Sydney, clarifying that he opted out owing to his off-form. Well, the retirement call did not come right after the series. Rather, he was pretty confident, saying that someone sitting with a pen on a desk can't decide his future! He went to Dubai, won the Champions Trophy, and in the middle of the 2025 IPL, a small Insta story pulled down the curtain. Read also: Watch: AB de Villiers takes a slider in WCL semis against Australia Champions Rohit had his injury: Shah reasoned Sharma's inability for coming WTC Cycle Rohit Sharma had missed a match or two during the 2025 Indian Premier League owing to injury. Also, he was 38 years old. Shah felt it would have been impossible for Rohit Sharma to sustain the upcoming two years in the 2025-27 Test cycle. Shah added, "And it didn’t seem like Rohit could take it for two more years. He also had his injury, he didn’t play a couple of IPL matches because of that either. I think that’s what he thought, and left for the team to grow and build nicely in the new cycle. Such big decisions are taken by big people like Rohit themselves.” Earlier, after winning the T20 World Cup 2024, Rohit Sharma announced his retirement from T20 Internationals. With the Test format gone, he is currently playing the ODI format only.