CHENNAI: Rohit Sharma is 36. He could easily have been a part of the 2011 World Cup winning side, but Piyush Chawla’s inclusion as the spin cover scuttled the then 24-year old’s hopes.
Twelve years down the line, the medal of a world champion keeps eluding him across formats, even though the fringe player of that era is now one of the most well-liked Indian captains. Rohit knows, in all probability, this will be his last chance to win some ICC silverware. He is well aware that the tag of the most successful IPL captain will sound hollow if it is not backed by a World Cup trophy. And the Mumbai cricketer concedes that desperation is bound to creep in for players who are at this late stage of their careers.”In desperation, you can do so many things that can lead into so many other things, so, it’s good to be desperate and hungry. But you’ve got to find that balance to stay desperate for scoring runs, lifting the trophy, winning games…it’s that balance I am looking for,” Rohit said during the course of a half-hour interaction with the media, where he sounded confident but not arrogant about India’s chances. “The seniors have so much experience, they know how to stay under the radar and keep doing things they are supposed to do.”
The format of this World Cup, where teams play each other once before a one-off semis, can be a bit cruel, as India found out the hard way in 2019. A rampaging Indian side in the league stages might just have peaked a little too early before they crashed to a soul-crushing semi final loss.
India captain Rohit Sharma, a colossus in white-ball cricket
Rohit and his boys have tried to learn from the experience and not repeat the same mistakes they did in 2019. The skipper insisted that it’s important to go match by match. “You have to think about tomorrow’s match, deal with it and move forward. There’s no point looking too far ahead,” Rohit added.
But after playing 16 years of international cricket, the right-hander knows that there will be situations when players will feel the pressure. And in such situations he wants his players to show character.
“In difficult times, I want them to come up and say ‘Okay, pressure is not leaving us, but I’m better off focusing on what I need to do for the team’. We are supposed to handle pressure, it is part and parcel of playing cricket in India,” Rohit said.
It’s about his teammates taking a cue from their skipper and going ahead in this mission of making it a happy swansong for a fantastic generation.