India's star batter Rohit Sharma announced his retirement from Test cricket on May 7 amidst the ongoing IPL 2025. He took to his Instagram story to confirm his retirement from the longest format just days before the team selection for the upcoming England tour.

Speaking about his retirement, India's chief selector MSK Prasad has said that the selectors will be picking up the squad for the upcoming Test series against England soon and that could well be the reason behind the announcement of his retirement. The series against England will commence a new WTC cycle for India, and with Rohit not getting any younger and his form not being the greatest, he might not have been a certain pick for the selectors.

"I think in the next few days, the selectors might be picking the team for the Test series, so that's the reason. That's why he would have taken the call. The second thing is, since the two-year cycle is going to start from this series, he's probably keeping that in mind as well," Prasad told India Today.

"Though he would have wanted to play this series-he's got a decent record in England-his heart would have been set on playing one more series before making a final decision," added Prasad.

Why not give him an opportunity as an opener?: MSK Prasad

Prasad opened up about the chances Rohit was given at the initial stages of his career and how he was moved up from the middle order to the opening position.

"The decision we had was that, after scoring five centuries in the World Cup, we thought someone who could get runs in England and score so consistently-why not? That was a time when we were also having a bit of a problem with the openers. You know, Mayank Agarwal had just started coming in, they were too young, and Murali Vijay had faded out.