Champions Trophy-winning captain Rohit Sharma reveals what India players have to endure; credits boys for ignoring stress and focusing on job at hand
India skipper Rohit Sharma with the ICC Champions Trophy in Dubai on Sunday. Pic/Getty Images
Rohit Sharma is not a person who likes to hog the limelight. He is generous to the core and has no qualms over giving credit to his fellow players, even when he has the world at his feet. That’s the type of personality he comes across time and again, and it was no different when Team India won the Champions Trophy on Sunday night. At the post-match media conference, he acknowledged the contribution of each player, saying that it was a team effort all the way, with almost all players contributing in one match or the other. More importantly, he said that the current team would like to play the same brand of cricket going forward.
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Not one to beat about the bush, he also made a brief statement at the end: “One more thing, I am not going to retire from this format. [I am clarifying] just to make sure no rumours are spread moving forward. OK guys, thank you so much.”
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Anyhow, even if Rohit had not made that statement, the way he interacted with the media, there was no indication of him calling it quits. He enthusiastically delved not only on the strong points, but also the way forward for his team, saying that with so many stalwarts in the side, the players had learnt to take the pressure in their stride and enjoy and appreciate each other’s success. That, he said, was the way forward for this team.
“There’s too much pressure from the outside. One game India loses, or it 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 focus on how to win games and how to enjoy the game. So that has been the most important aspect of our game in the last two or three years. That shows a lot of quality in the team, a lot of depth, a lot of understanding within the group, a lot of enjoyment, a lot of excitement. That is what we had spoken about before the tournament and that is how we want to play our cricket [in future too].
When asked how difficult it was for him to build up the team, he gave credit to all the previous captains and coaches for developing such a strong side. “Look, it obviously is just not me. A lot of the captains who’ve played before me, captained the team before me… a lot of credit goes to them as well. A lot of the coaches who have come before Gautam Gambhir… Rahul Dravid and all of these guys. The credit goes to everyone. India is a bloody good team, without a doubt. In the last three or four years, we managed to play finals of all ICC tournaments, so I’m really, really proud being a captain of this team.”
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