Rohit Sharma is one of the only two players, along with Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan, to have featured in all the T20 World Cups so far, including the ongoing one jointly hosted by the USA and the West Indies. At 37, Rohit is expected to be up for a last dance, but the right-hander wants to leave a mark on the next generation. “It is quite exciting (playing another T20 World Cup). I never thought about it, honestly speaking. But it is nice to have played in all the T20 World Cups. And I’ve enjoyed every bit of it. When you come to ICC tournaments, it is always exciting and brings a lot of new challenges,” Rohit said.
The star batter made a sizable start to his T20 World Cup journey in 2007, smashing a half-century in his first-ever innings to win the Player of the Match award in a crunch game against South Africa.
However, the Mumbaikar stated that the first thing that came to his mind from the tournament was the bowl-out against Pakistan in 2007.
“I think the first thing that comes to mind is the bowl-out that we had against Pakistan. I think that was the first ever bowl-out that happened, and for us to come out on top was even more exciting. You know, it has never happened before. No team has done it in the World Cup,” he recalled. “So it was quite exciting for us to have a crack at it and come out on top eventually. And I still remember that after our normal training, we used to train for bowl-outs, which was quite exciting. Everyone used to participate in that bowl-out.
“And we knew at some stage we had to have; we had to play and win that game through a bowl-out. And that’s exactly what happened when we played a game against Pakistan. And like I said, it was nice to come out on top,” he added. Speaking on the evolution of the tournament as such, having walked the journey himself, Rohit stated that the format had “actually reached a level where nobody believed.”
“Honestly speaking, when it started, we had no clue about how it was going to make a mark on world cricket. Now that we sit back after playing the first inaugural World Cup, which was in 2007, we are in 2024. 17 years have passed by,” he said. “Every year, you see the style of play and how players have evolved playing this format. It is quite exciting, and I never thought it would reach this level because, when it started, obviously, it was a very unknown factor to the world as to what this format would bring to the world. I must say that it has actually reached a level where nobody believes.
“But that’s also a lot to do with how the players, each country, and the players have evolved with the game and taken it to the next level,” he added. And for me, nothing changes from all the World Cups that I have played. I always want to win, and I will still keep driving towards that,” he said. Stressing that winning a World Cup is the “most significant” thing a player can do in his career, Rohit said that he hoped to make an impact on the future generation of cricketers. “Look, it’s always been the dream to win World Cups. Winning the World Cup is the most prestigious thing that you can ever do.