It’s been 16 years since Rohit Sharma’s first appearance in the final of a world cup. The era was different, he was just starting out his India career with the legendary MS Dhoni at the wheel.
The young squad, led by a first-time captain in Dhoni, defied expectations to become the inaugural champions of the ICC World T20 in 2007.
Comes Sunday (November 19), Rohit will be playing in his fourth final of a world cup after that 2007 WT20 and two World Test Championship finals (2021 and 2023).
This is the second time that Rohit will be leading India in the final of an ICC event and he’s just one win away from joining the likes of Kapil Dev and Dhoni to have won the world cup as India captain.
India will face Australia in the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup in Ahmedabad and on the match eve, Rohit was asked what message did Dhoni give his team all those years back ahead of 2007 WT20 final and if he has prepared something similar.
In his typical, nonchalant fashion, Rohit said, “There won’t be anything different. The way I just told you, the way we’ve been playing, we’ll like to play the same way. There’s no need to give a different message.”
He added, “In 2007, I don’t think MS gave a different message (either). The way we started, we will play the final the same way.”
When asked if he’s prepared a captain’s speech to inspire the team members, Rohit said, “No, nothing like that. The normal discussions we have during the game, before the game, they are normal discussions. Other than that, there is no discussion about anything else.”
For Rohit, the finale is going to be an emotional one for more than one reason.
Back in 2011, he was left dejected after missing the bus and he watched from the sidelines as his teammates lifted the world cup trophy at the Wankhede Stadium.
“Look, I mean, I don’t want to go back there. It was a very emotional period. I think I’m sure everyone knows about it. It was a very hard time. But again, now I’m very happy that I’m at this stage where I’m leading the team into the final,” Rohit said when asked to talk about the journey from his world cup heartbreak in 2011.
“I never thought it (leading India in world cup final) will happen. But things do happen if you wish for it. And if you dream big, all these things happen. So yeah, I’m just very happy to be here. But I know the importance of tomorrow. So, I just want to keep it nice and relaxed and calm and not get too emotional thinking about what happened in 2011 or what can happen tomorrow,” he added.
Rohit wants to create the same environment for his teammates that he created for himself: nice and balanced.
“I just want to create the same environment that I created for myself when we started this World Cup. We were all in great space. We are all in great space now. So, I just want to maintain that. Like I said, don’t want to go too up. Don’t want to go too low. Just nice and balanced,” he said.
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