In his first public appearance since losing the ODI captaincy tag to Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma hailed the team culture established during his time with former India head coach Rahul Dravid, crediting him for the success the side enjoyed later on during the Champions Trophy in March 2025.
While Dravid’s tenure ended with the T20 World Cup win in June 2024 in the Caribbean, the 38-year-old Mumbaikar appreciated his efforts while notably omitting current head coach Gautam Gambhir as he reflected on the Champions Trophy triumph.
“Look, I love that team, loved playing with them and it’s a journey that we were all into, for many years. It’s not about one year or two years of work. It was about getting into work from many years,” Rohit said during the 2024 CEAT Rating awards function in Mumbai on Tuesday.
“We’d come so close to winning that trophy many times, but we couldn’t just get over the line. That is where everyone decided that we need to do something different and there’s two (ways) to look at it.”
“There’s always a thought of doing that and then actually going and doing that. It cannot be done by one or two players. We needed everyone to buy into that thought, which was good from everyone,” Rohit said while referring to India’s 2024 World Cup triumph, ending a wait of 17 years.
‘Credit to Rahul bhai’
Since losing in the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-finals, India’s ICC tournament performances underwent a significant overhaul under Rohit, with the team losing only one game in the next three limited-overs events. Rohit revealed the renewed mindset was a product of his partnership with Dravid, which in turn, enabled the side to perform even at the Champions Trophy without the legendary India No. 3, eight months later, during the Champions Trophy.
“All the guys who took part in that competition (Champions Trophy) got into that thought process of how to win games and how to challenge ourselves and not be complacent and not to take anything for granted,” Rohit said as he was honoured with a special memento for overseeing the CT 2025 win.
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“That was really good from the team and that is something that helped me and Rahul bhai when we were planning for the (2024) T20 World Cup, and then on to the Champions Trophy. We just carried it well.
“In 2023 (World Cup final), although we didn’t cross the line in the finals, we set out to do something as a team and everyone did that,” he added.
Rohit is slated to return to action for the Men in Blue in 11 days when they take on Australia in the first ODI in Perth.
