Although in this Champions Trophy, India have played all of their five matches in Dubai, their schedules in the 2023 World Cup (albeit at home), and in the T20 World Cup they won last year, were more challenging. In 2023, they played in nine different venues, losing only the final to Australia. In last year’s T20 event, they played three matches in New York state to start, but then played their last six matches (one of which was abandoned) across five different venues.
“That’s a great, great milestone to have, honestly speaking,” Rohit said about India’s 23 victories. “It speaks to the kind of team this is. I know we didn’t reach the ODI World Cup and lost that final. But then we went to the T20 World Cup and didn’t lose a single game. We went on to win the trophy here as well.
“That shows the quality in the team. A lot of depth. A lot of understanding within the group. A lot of excitement. And that is how we want to play our cricket. That’s what we had spoken before the tournament – that there’s too much pressure on the outside. If one game, India loses, or the match goes here and there, there’s so much speculation that happens.
“But the boys and the team have actually managed to put that aside, and just focused on how to win games and how to enjoy the game. That’s been the most important aspect of our game in the last two or three years that we’ve been here.”
If you narrow the sample down to just 2024 and 2025, India have now won 13 out of 13, across two different formats. MS Dhoni helmed India’s victory charges to all three limited-overs trophies, winning the 2007 T20 World Cup, the 2011 ODI World Cup, and the 2013 Champions Trophy. But only in the 2013 Champions Trophy did his team go undefeated through the tournament. And at no point did Dhoni’s India team win two ICC trophies in succession.
“It is a great team achievement for the team to win two ICC trophies and to go undefeated is icing on the cake. I have seen very few teams that have won two tournaments undefeated. We used the conditions well and won. There’s no future plan, whatever is happening will keep happening.
“We lost the 2023 final after playing such terrific cricket in nine games. So with the same mindset, with the same intention, with the same game plan, we went to play the final. But we talked about the fact that [we] don’t give up till the game is over. This is what we spoke about before these two finals – that we’ve to stay in the game till the end.”
Rohit also paid tribute to a versatile XI, packed with allrounders, with almost everyone who played making a serious impact on the tournament.
“If you look at Nos. 1 to 11, the players who got a chance to bat or bowl, they have contributed in their own ways. Eventually, when everyone plays together and a lot of people contribute, you get a lot of success consistently. In this tournament we saw the players who got a chance to bowl played their part. The players who got a chance to bat won us games.
“It was not like only one player scored all the runs in the tournament. Everyone has contributed here and there because we knew that wickets were challenging here, and it’s not easy for everyone. So getting all contributions from top to bottom was crucial.
“There is a lot of hunger and a lot of passion. These things are not supposed to be taught. It is very natural to a lot of guys here.”
Andrew Fidel Fernando is a senior writer at ESPNcricinfo. @afidelf
