"Except winning the finals of ICC trophies, we have won everything" - Rohit Sharma opens up on India's ICC title drought
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma remained confident that the time will come to win an ICC trophy and expressed satisfaction with the team winning everything on offer over the past three years.
Under the astute leadership of Rohit, Team India came ever so close to breaking a ten-year ICC title drought last year. However, they suffered heartbreaking defeats in the World Test Championship (WTC) and the ODI World Cup finals to Australia.
Yet, aside from the ICC tournaments, India has been dominant across formats, evidenced by the side being ranked No.1 in both white ball formats and second in Tests.
Speaking to Jio Cinema on the sidelines of the opening Test against England, Rohit Sharma wanted the team not to dwell on the past and capitalize on future opportunities.
"The last three years have been great. Except winning the finals of ICC trophies, we have won everything. That’s one thing we’ve not been able to accomplish, but I think time will come. All we need to do is stay in a good mindset, not worry too much about the past because you can’t change the past. What you can change is what is going to come next, so all of us are quite focused on that. We are playing our hearts out," Rohit said.
The Men in Blue ran through the 2023 ODI World Cup, winning all nine league-stage games and defeating New Zealand in the semi-final. However, the wait for the much-awaited ICC title continued, thanks to a clinical performance by Australia in the summit clash in Ahmedabad.
"I wanted to take the statistical side of cricket out of this team" - Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma spoke about his approach to captaincy, with the primary focus being the players taking individual numbers out of the equation.
The 36-year-old has walked his talk, increasing his ODI strike rate to over 115 in the last two years compared to his career strike rate of 91.97. Rohit was also the second-leading run-scorer in the 2023 World Cup with 597 runs.
Yet, it was his attacking approach at the start of the Indian innings that set the tone for match-winning totals, evidenced by his strike rate of 125.94 in the tournament.
"I wanted to bring about certain change, players going out there and playing with a lot of freedom. I wanted to take the statistical side of cricket out of this team. Numbers are overrated. In India, we do talk a lot about numbers and all of that. I got five hundreds in the 2019 World Cup, but we still lost. The hundreds don’t matter," Rohit added.
Rohit Sharma continued emphasizing the importance of winning trophies over individual numbers and accolades. He stated:
"I may think about them may be 20 years later after I retire, but what did we get? I wanted the trophy. If you don’t win trophies, I don’t think those 5-6 hundreds make too much sense. Team sport is all about winning trophies, not about individual accomplishments."
Team India's last ICC title came in the 2013 Champions Trophy in England under the captaincy of MS Dhoni.
They will have another opportunity to break the dry spell at the 2024 T20 World Cup in the West Indies and U.S.A. in June.