The captain of the Indian cricket team Rohit Sharma has opened up about the changes he wants to see in his team. Rohit revealed his intent to remove the statistical side of cricket completely from the Indian team, encouraging players to focus more on the game rather than personal milestones.
While speaking to JioCinema in an exclusive chat with Dinesh Karthik, the Mumbaiker stated that numbers are overrated. Rohit, who smashed a record five tons in 2019 World Cup stated that his individual performance doesn’t give much joy if the team doesn’t lift the trophy in the end.
“I wanted to bring a certain change; players going out there and playing with a lot of freedom. That statistical side of cricket… I want to completely take it out of this team. People are not looking at numbers. People are not looking at their personal scores and just play the game. Numbers are overrated. In India, we do talk a lot about numbers and all of that. But like, yeah, I got five hundreds in 2019 World Cup but kya hua uska, haar gaye na (but what happened, we still lost)?” Rohit said.
Despite Rohit’s dream run in the 2019 WC, India was knocked out of the competition after a defeat against New Zealand in the semi-final.
“I don’t think those 5-6 hundreds make too much sense” – Rohit Sharma
Speaking about the significance of winning trophies over individual numbers and achievements, Rohit said:
“I may think about them may be 20 years later after I retire, but what did we get? I wanted the trophy. If you don’t win trophies, I don’t think those 5-6 hundreds make too much sense. Team sport is all about winning trophies, not about individual accomplishments.”
India has not won an ICC tournament since winning the 2013 Championship Trophy in England under the captaincy of MS Dhoni. India lost 2015 and 2019 WC in semi-finals, and 2023 WC in finals. While they faced T20 WC defeats in 2014, 2016, and 2022 in the semi-finals.
Rohit and his company will have another opportunity to break the drought in the upcoming 2024 T20 World Cup in the West Indies and U.S.A. in June.
