"There is a reason I won 5 IPL trophies, I'm not going to stop" - Rohit Sharma expresses desire to win more titles after 2024 T20 World Cup triumph
Team India skipper Rohit Sharma expressed his hunger to win more games and trophies in the future even with the euphoria of the recent T20 World Cup triumph in the West Indies and USA. The 37-year-old mentioned the same at the CEAT Cricket Rating Awards ceremony, where he was named the men's international cricketer of the year.
Rohit led his IPL franchise Mumbai Indians (MI) to five IPL titles but stuttered in the World Test Championship and ODI World Cup final last year as Indian skipper. However, he finally broke India's ICC drought by captaining them to the 2024 T20 World Cup title.
At the awards ceremony, Rohit said:
"There is a reason I won five IPL trophies. I'm not going to stop, because once you get the taste of winning games, winning Cups, you don't want to stop and we'll keep pushing as a team. We'll keep striving for better things in the future."
"We've got a couple of solid tours coming up, very challenging ones as well. For us, it never stops. Once you achieve something you always look forward to achieving more. That is what I will be doing. I'm pretty sure my teammates will be thinking on the same line. What I've seen in the last two years in Indian cricket, there's some real excitement, some real good cricket is being played," he added.
While it remains to be seen whether Rohit will still be playing during the next ODI World Cup in 2027, he is almost certain to lead the side in two key ICC events next year - the Champions Trophy and World Test Championship final (should India qualify).
"I got a lot of help from my three pillars" - Rohit Sharma
Rohit Sharma thanked the three pillars of Indian cricket - head coach Rahul Dravid, BCCI secretary Jay Shah, and chief selector Ajit Agarkar for their incredible recent run culminating with the T20 World Cup triumph.
India have qualified for the final of the last three ICC events across formats under Rohit's transformative leadership.
"It was my dream to transform this team and not worry too much about the stats, the results, to make sure that we create that environment where people can go out there and play freely without thinking too much. That is what was required. I got a lot of help from my three pillars, who are actually Mr Jay Shah, Mr Rahul Dravid (and the) chairman of selectors Ajit Agarkar," Rohit said at the awards ceremony.
"That was very critical for me to do what I did and obviously not to forget the players, who came in at different points in time and helped the team to achieve what we achieved. When we won the World Cup, it was important for all of us to enjoy the moment which we did pretty well and thanks to our nation as well for celebrating with us," he added.
The 2024 T20 World Cup win was Dravid's last assignment as Indian head coach with former cricketer Gautam Gambhir replacing him.
Gambhir's tenure started with the recent white-ball tour of Sri Lanka, where India won the T20I series but suffered a surprising defeat in the ODIs.