On a golden Sydney evening, two titans who have shaped Indian cricket for over a decade found themselves penning a magnificent final chapter. Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, both having retired from Test and T20I formats, stepped onto Australian soil one last time in their blue ODI jerseys. What followed wasn’t just a victory; it was a profound resurrection, a poetic declaration that their extraordinary story, even now, remains gloriously unfinished.
New Delhi: “He had one of those natures which called to you and in whose presence you felt it was good to live.” Frank Iredale wrote this of Victor Trumper, his colleague on the 1899 Australian tour of England. On Saturday at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG), for those lucky enough to be there or watching on TV or mobile phones, it felt the same watching Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma turn back the clock.
For both men, this match carried the weight of endings. Rohit and Kohli have both retired from Tests and T20Is. With no ODIs scheduled in Australia before the 2027 World Cup, these were almost certainly their final outings on Australian soil. “I don’t know if we’ll be coming back to Australia, but it was fun all these years that we played here,” said the 38-year-old Rohit Sharma after the match. “You know, a lot of good memories, bad memories. But all in all, I’ll take the cricket that I played here.”
Sydney had once been unkind to them. It was on this very ground that they had seen their stars fall apart earlier this year, as Rohit had to drop himself from the Test XI. Kohli, leading a bruised team, watched as Jasprit Bumrah walked off injured and Australia clinched the Border-Gavaskar series. That match and tour closed chapters neither man had planned to finish, as within months both of them — two pillars of Indian cricket — surprisingly announced their retirement from the longest format.
A New Chapter Unfolds in Sydney
And yet, Sydney had another chapter waiting.
Walking out in blue for the final ODI of the series against Australia, Rohit and Kohli carried unfinished business. The crowd, aware of what this venue had meant to their journey, filled the stands with expectation and nostalgia.
The two veterans didn’t disappoint and turned back the clock with a 168-run match-winning stand as India defeated Australia by nine wickets in the dead-rubber third one-day international, likely their swansong Down Under. Chasing a modest 237, India reached the target comfortably with 69 balls to spare at a sold-out SCG. Rohit was unbeaten on 121, but it was Kohli who received the loudest roar. This happened despite the fact that Kohli had suffered two ducks in the opening games of the series at Adelaide and Perth, both won by Australia. At the SCG, the chase master stayed unbeaten on 74.
Rohit, India’s top scorer in the series, reminded everyone of the value of experience. Kohli, meanwhile, returning to form, looked like a man still fighting, still possessed, still searching, still not done. There’s no guarantee how many more innings like these are left in them, but Sydney gave them the chance to rewrite — or end — a story where it once broke, something most players never get.
Cricket rarely allows fairytales — it’s too unforgiving and ruthless a game. But sometimes, for those who’ve given enough to the sport, it allows one small kindness. And Sydney, for once, was kind. The same place that had seen them falter in whites gave them their moment in blue.
At the same venue where both once looked like men at the end of their road, they found a way to remind everyone that the road still had a few miles left.
Will Rohit score another hundred? Maybe. Perhaps there will be another great chase from Kohli. Perhaps not. Will both of them make it to the 2027 World Cup? Who knows. But those are questions for another day. This game was about two men who refused to be remembered for their fall — and wrote their own ending Down Under instead.