Rohit Sharma said a big thing (Photo-PTI)
Rohit Sharma has given a shocking statement before the T20 World Cup 2026. Rohit said that one reason for India not winning the ICC trophy from 2011 to 2024 could be the fear of failure among the country’s top batsmen. The Indian team won the ODI World Cup in 2011 under the captaincy of Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The team had to wait for the next big ICC trophy till 2024, when it won the T20 World Cup title under the captaincy of Rohit. Rohit said in JioHotstar’s program, ‘I have always believed that when circumstances are going bad, they will not remain bad forever and one day there will definitely be improvement. But I never thought it would take 13 years.
Fear of failure could be the reason: Rohit
Rohit Sharma further said, ‘I did not think that it would take so much time. The last World Cup win was in 2011 and then we won in 2024. This is after 13 years. Yes, the Champions Trophy was won in 2013, so technically it was an 11-year ICC trophy drought. But 11 years is also a long time. We always believed that we had to do the right thing and we kept doing the right thing. But something was missing. There was something we were not able to do. I think perhaps the fear of failure had crept in all of us, maybe or not, I don’t know, but that’s what I felt.
Tried to eliminate fear: Rohit
Rohit Sharma said that his and former head coach Rahul Dravid’s team management had given free rein to the players to free them from fear. Rohit said, ‘We tried to eliminate fear. We gave freedom to the players, told them what to do. I used to personally talk to the players and say that you have to do this and we want this. This builds trust between the player and the captain and coach. When the time comes to perform, players are not afraid, but take responsibility. Because when the captain and coach clearly said that this is your role, then there is nothing to fear.
‘There is no point in scoring runs in the 2019 World Cup’
Rohit described the 2019 World Cup as a big lesson for mental change. He said, ‘2019 World Cup was a big lesson for me. I scored a lot of runs there, but we did not win the World Cup. Then I asked myself, what is the use of these runs? This is to play for my pleasure. This is why from 2020 I started thinking differently. It took me two years to adopt the changes which I implemented in 2022 and 2023. I understood that I have to play with passion and without fear. Otherwise it doesn’t matter whether I was out on 40 or 90 runs.
Should not talk about statistics: Rohit
Rohit explained, ‘Indians like figures. We talk a lot about runs and statistics. But in the end if there is no World Cup, then all these statistics are useless. What will those runs mean after 20-25 years? In my opinion, and this is my personal opinion, what really matters is a successful campaign and winning trophies. This tells the success of your cricket career, and only then you can say that you have achieved success in your career.