Rohit Sharma rose from humble beginnings to captain cricket-mad India and redefined Test batting with his ability to score big hundreds as he dominated opposition attacks.
The 38-year-old called time on his Test career on Wednesday after playing 67 matches and scoring 4,301 runs, including 12 centuries since his debut in 2013.
“It’s been an absolute honor to represent my country in whites," he wrote on Instagram. “Thank you for all the love and support over the years.”
Rohit struggled during the 2024/25 season, averaging just 10.93 runs in 11 innings over eight Tests.
He replaced Virat Kohli as captain in March 2022 and guided India to 12 wins, nine losses and three draws, while scoring 1,254 runs during that time.
It was a captaincy that ended with back-to-back series losses – a record 3-0 home defeat to New Zealand and a 4-1 loss to Australia that knocked India out of the 2025 World Test Championship.
As a youngster Rohit studied on a scholarship because his family was unable to afford monthly fees of a few dollars.
He overcame all odds to become a cricketing superstar, especially in the white-ball game. He is the only batsman to have scored three double-centuries in one-day internationals.
Prior to his drop off in form, Rohit gave India real firepower at the top of the innings. His selfless approach allowed the rest of the batsmen to play freely.
But the man dubbed the "Hitman" for getting to big scores quickly in spectacular style failed to get past 10 runs in any of his five innings during India's tour of Australia late last year.
He described his performances as "disturbing" while there was also mounting criticism about his decisions as captain.
Rohit missed the first Test in Perth for the birth of his second child, with Jasprit Bumrah assuming the captaincy and playing a starring role with the ball in a big India win.
With India trailing 2-1 in the series, vice-captain Bumrah was named to lead the team at the Sydney Cricket Ground as the visitors battled to retain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
Indian media mockingly noted that Rohit's 31 runs in three Tests was only one more than Bumrah's 30 wickets.
"Rohit, because of captaincy and reputation ... managed to hang on longer than he should have," the Times of India wrote.
Rohit was also way below his brilliant best in the 3-0 Test series whitewash at home to New Zealand in November.
“Thank you, Captain … End of an era in whites! ... We are proud of you, Hitman,” India cricket said in a statement.
For all his struggles in red-ball cricket, Rohit’s mastery with the white ball showed no signs of abating. He captained India to the T20 World Cup title in the United States in 2024 and followed that up with the ODI Champions Trophy in Dubai earlier this year. He will continue to play the ODI format.
Rohit quit T20 internationals following that World Cup success, signing off as India’s highest scorer in the shortest format, plundering 4,231 runs including five centuries in 159 matches since his T20 debut in 2007.
A five-time IPL winner for Mumbai Indians, Rohit took over the captaincy of the white-ball national team in 2021 from Virat Kohli. A year later, Rohit became Test skipper too.
He left a lasting legacy in the shortest format, having featured in all nine editions of the T20 World Cup.
He was part of MS Dhoni's winning team in the inaugural event in 2007, before clinching his second T20 crown 17 years later.
Rohit, who has been criticised for not having the athletic physique of some other players, has also amassed 11,168 runs at an average of over 48 in 273 ODIs.
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Gender pay parity on track in the UAE
The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.
"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."
Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.
"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.
As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general.
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4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
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