‘Haven’t seen the World Cup…’, Rohit Sharma reveals tough phase during 2011 ODI WC

Mumbai Indians (MI) and India captain Rohit Sharma on Wednesday reflected on his omission from the squad for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 and how it changed his life and the game. Rohit on Wednesday had an exclusive interview with JioCinema ahead of his team’s Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 Eliminator match against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Chennai.

Rohit said that his missing out on the 2011 Cricket World Cup changed a lot about his game and routine and that the year was a “blow” for him. India brought home the World Cup after 28 years by defeating Sri Lanka in the final at Rohit’s home ground Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. A young Rohit, who was then a budding talent, had to watch it all unfold from the sidelines. (‘After Gautam Gambhir left KKR, I felt isolated’, Robin Uthappa asks why CSK is closer to him)

“2011 was a big blow for me, not being a part of the World Cup team, I had no one to blame but myself. I worked on my game. Yoga, meditation and being alone helped me a lot. I realized that something had to be done, I knew my life was in danger and if I didn’t improve, I would never be able to play cricket again. I made a lot of changes in myself between 2014-15, because I knew I was going nowhere. Gotta go. I had to think how can I help my team, and take myself to another level. I got those answers myself,” Rohit said in the interview.

“To be honest, I haven’t watched the World Cup except for the semi-finals and the final because I was so disappointed I didn’t want to. Every time I turned on the TV I thought I could have been there, what went wrong and sort of things,” revealed Rohit.

It is safe to say that Rohit has made a big comeback since then. The ICC Champions Trophy 2013, where he got a chance to open with Shikhar Dhawan, sent his career graph on a massive upward trajectory. He scored 177 runs in five innings at 35.40 with two half-centuries in that tournament, which India won. This is Rohit’s second title win with India after the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007 in South Africa. (BCCI to plant 500 trees for every dot ball during IPL 2023 playoffs, announces Jay Shah)

Rohit enjoyed a wonderful ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 with the bat. He scored 330 runs in eight matches at an average of 47.14. He scored these runs at a strike rate of 91.66. A century and two half-centuries came out of his bat, with a best score of 137. India made it to the semi-finals in that tournament.

The ‘Hitman’ as he is known to his fans continued his remarkable 50-over World Cup career in 2019. In that edition of the tournament, he topped the run-scoring charts with 648 runs in nine matches at an average of 81.00. Strike rate of 98.33. He scored five centuries in the tournament, becoming the only player to do so in a World Cup. He also scored a half-century. His best score was 140. India made another semi-final appearance in the tournament.

Overall in 17 World Cup matches, he has scored 978 runs at an average of 65.20 and a strike rate of over 95. He has scored six hundreds and three half-centuries with a best of 140.

Now in 2023, he will lead Team India as a captain in the ICC Cricket World Cup in October-November, which will be held entirely in India for the first time.