It's a big deal for me: Rohit Sharma on captaining India

CHENNAI: When India won the 2011 Men’s ODI World Cup in Mumbai, Rohit Sharma was not a part of the 15-member trophy-winning squad. A string of unimpressive performances meant Rohit suffered a heart-breaking moment when India lifted the trophy at Wankhede Stadium.

Fast forward to 12 years, and Rohit, with two ODI World Cup appearances in the bag, as well as the tag of being a highly destructive opener in the 50-over format, will play his first quadrennial event as the captain of the Indian team on home soil.

That exhilarating feeling and honour of being the skipper of the Indian team in a home World Cup had left Rohit lost for words, though he did term it as a big deal for him. “It means a lot. It's a huge honour to be part of this World Cup team, firstly, and then being the captain. 50-over World Cup is the biggest sporting event in cricketing history.”

“So, for me, this is the biggest event that I will be part of. And being the captain as well, yes, it's a huge honour. I've said it many a times that it was always a dream to be part of the World Cup team. And then now to be part of the team and then the captain, I don't know how to describe that because it's a big deal for me,” said in the press conference on the eve of India’s tournament opener against Australia in Chennai on Sunday.

Apart from marshalling the Indian team to success in the World Cup, Rohit will also be leading the batting charge from the front. In the 2019 World Cup, as deputy to Virat Kohli, Rohit topped 2019 Men’s ODI World Cup run-charts with 648 runs and five hundreds. In India, the pressure will be there on Rohit to live up to the benchmark he set in 2019.

In the 2019-23 cycle, Rohit has scored 1454 runs in 34 innings, averaging 48.46 and a strike-rate of 103.56, up from his career strike-rate of 90.52. From someone who used to take the innings deep to now taking up a role of an early aggressor for giving India the impetus they require in their innings, 2023 World Cup will see how Rohit makes a balance in the roles of a belligerent batter and astute leader handling various pressures for aiming to get India its third trophy.

“Both are different things - that is where the experience of being here for 16 years, playing the sport comes into picture. How you handle that pressure, handle that moments during the game. The 16 years of cricket has taught me that, how to go through the moments and how to handle those pressures and not to let that pressure come on to the team.”

“I'm sure at certain stages of the tournament some players will go through pressure the teams will go through pressure, but that is where we need characters. We need strong mentality from the players to come out and say that - OK, pressure is not leaving us, but I'm better off focusing on what I need to do for the team, rather than thinking about - there's too much pressure.”

“Pressure is always there. We are Indian cricketers. We are supposed to go through pressure times, pressure situations. Everyone is very well aware of that. So, there's no point talking about pressure, pressure, pressure because everyone knows about it because they play cricket in India. Any tournament they play, the pressure is always there.”

“And for me as a batter, yes, I want to focus on what I can do the best for the team, whatever is required, whether it is giving good starts, batting as long as possible. I'll try and do everything that is required for the team.”

Rohit also said that it will be great if India goes all the way to the trophy, but reminded everyone about the balance, process and luck needed to do an encore of 2011 World Cup winning side, which he saw from the outside.

“You heard the great man say that so many times that you know, until he wins the World Cup, he's got a bit of unfinished business. I'm sure you know who I'm talking about. So, it's the same for us as well. You know, you want to win the World Cup, It's the biggest prize that you can have in your career. But again, there's a way to do it.”

“There's a procedure that you need to follow. There's a process to it. In desperation, you can do so many things that can lead into so many other things as well. So, it's good to be desperate. It's good to be hungry. But you've got to find that balance, right? Balance to stay desperate and stay hungry for, scoring runs, lifting the trophy, winning games, whatever that is. But there is a balance that you need to find.”

“You cannot get way too ahead of yourself because that can lead into something that you don't really wish for. You've got to find nice balance and luckily, I mean, for us, the seniors, they play a lot of cricket, so they know how to stay under that, you know, under that radar and keep doing things that they are supposed to do.”

“Then obviously we have to leave a lot of things to Almighty as well because we need that luck, a little bit of luck in the tournament. I hope we get that luck. But it will be nice to win a World Cup.”