Amid speculation that Sunday’s third and final ODI against England at Lord’s could be Rohit Sharma’s last international appearance, former India wicketkeeper-batsman Parthiv Patel is confident in the former captain’s ability to end the tournament with a memorable century.As reported by Times of India earlier, the selection committee has decided He won’t be England’s first-choice opener after the series on Sunday. As things stand, Sunday’s match could be the last for the 39-year-old Indian player. Rohit has retired from Test cricket and T20 international cricket.Patel said the India opener had shown many times in his career that he reacted strongly after an exhausting session and hoped he would do so again if Sunday’s game was his last.“If the home ODI is indeed the last game of his career, Rohit Sharma will want to retire with a century. He is more than capable of doing this. We have seen this throughout his career – after two or three low scores, he often bounces back with a winning knock in the next innings,” Patel told JioStar.“The difference between Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma has always been consistency. Rohit may not score big runs in every game, but when he does, he plays substantial innings and often ends up winning the Man of the Match award. He didn’t look comfortable in this match,” he added, referring to Rohit’s 26 off 47 balls in India’s second ODI defeat in Cardiff.Patel said Rohit struggled to adjust to Cardiff’s variable bounce and could never get used to his innings, but backed him to address his critics again.“But this is another opportunity for him to silence his critics. This has happened many times before and he has always responded with the bat. So, if the ODI at Lord’s does turn out to be his last game, I hope he plays an innings that people will remember for a long time,” the former wicketkeeper-batsman said.
