Rohit Sharma announces immediate retirement from Test cricket

India's Test Cricket captain Rohit Sharma on Wednesday announced retirement from red ball cricket, effective immediately.

Taking to his Instagram, Sharma, who led India to two ICC trophy wins in one year, made the unexpected announcement. However, there were speculations going on about his future in cricket after he retired from T20 cricket.

This also comes minutes after reports emerged that one of India's most successful captains may be sacked by the BCCI selectors.

"Hello everyone I would just like to share that I am retiring from Test cricket. It's been an absolute honour to represent my country in whites. Thank you for all the love and support over the years. I will continue to represent India in the ODI format," he said in his Instagram story.

Rohit, 38, has been India's most prolific Test batter in the second half of his career. He scored 4,301 runs in 67 Tests with 12 hundreds and 18 half centuries at an average of 40.57 since he made his Test debut in 2013. He has represented India as a skipper in 24 Test matches, of which he won 12 and lost 9 games.

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The opener also led India to the World Test Championship final against Australia, apart from overseeing recent home series against New Zealand and the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, despite some inconsistent team performances.

These last couple of series, where Rohit was leading team India, resulted in 0-3 defeat in home series against New Zealand and a 1-3 loss in tour of Australia.

India is all set to have a new Test captain for the forthcoming five-Test series in England with possible candidates being Jasprit Bumrah, KL Rahul, Shubman Gill and Rishabh Pant.