Rohit Sharma has earned the right and time to decide on his future after a superlative performance in the ODI series in Australia. But it’s difficult to fathom what is going on in the former India captain’s mind.

As he left Sydney for home, Rohit posted a picture of himself at the airport on social media and wrote, “One last time, signing off from Sydney.” This has set the social media abuzz with fans speculating if it’s a hint about the next step in his career.

But before his cryptic social media post, Rohit gave an interview to bcci.tv where he spoke about how he prepared for the tour of Australia and how it gave him clarity about what he should do in the rest of his career.

“Since the time I started playing, I never had four to five months to prepare for a series. So I wanted to utilise that. I wanted to do things my way, in my own terms, and that actually worked out pretty well for me. Understanding what I need to do for the rest of my career,” Rohit said.

Having retired from Tests and T20Is, the 38-year-old was returning to International cricket after quite some time, his last outing being the Champions Trophy final in March.

Rohit said that though the conditions in India and Australia were very different from each other, his previous experiences of playing cricket Down Under helped him in his preparation.

“It was important to utilise that time because, like I said, I never had such time in my hand. So I wanted to utilise that time and I prepared pretty well back home.

“Obviously, the conditions back home and here (Australia) are not ideal. It’s a massive difference between the two countries... But I’ve come here so many times. So it was just about getting into that rhythm and understanding what I need to do here,” he said.

It’s needless to say that his preparations worked as he excelled in the three-match ODI series with scores of 73 and 121 not out after getting out cheaply (8) in the first one-dayer. Rohit was adjudged the Player of the Series despite India losing it 1-2.

“I give a lot of credit to how I prepped before coming here (Australia), giving a lot of time to myself first.

“That was very important because sometimes you’ve got to understand that there’s so much to do in life besides what you do professionally. But I got a lot of time in my hand, so I utilised that.

“Like I said, I could do things on my own terms, on my own time, which actually really helped me. Very, very grateful... to have people standing beside you. I’m pretty grateful for that,” Rohit said.

He also acknowledged the huge support from the fans in Australia.

“Honestly, whenever we’ve played, people have come out and supported... In Australia, the crowd never disappoints. They come out in large numbers to watch cricket because two good teams playing, they want to watch quality cricket. That is what you get with these two teams.”

Coming back to his retirement talk, which has been fuelled by his social media post, one feels that Rohit will not give it up just like that after working so hard to make his International return successful. He looks fitter and still has the shots to intimidate any bowling line-up in the world.

The loss in the 2023 World Cup final to Australia hurt him. It seems like the 2027 World Cup will be all about attending to unfinished business for Rohit. It doesn’t look like it’s over.