IND v ENG 2024: “Numbers are overrated,” captain Rohit Sharma asks his players not to focus on statistical side of cricket

Rohit led the Indian team fearlessly during the World Cup at home last year.

Rohit Sharma is widely regarded as one of the best captains in the modern-day game. He has led Mumbai Indians (MI) to five IPL titles and also captained Team India with great success in all forms of the game.

Under his leadership, India won the Asia Cup last year and made it to the World Cup 2023 final without losing a single match. He also guided the Test team to Border-Gavaskar Trophy triumph against Australia last year.

Rohit’s next big assignment as a captain is the home Test series against England, which got underway on January 25 in Hyderabad.

Ahead of the five-match series, Rohit shared his captaincy mantra, citing that he puts the team's success ahead of individual statistics.

Sharma conceded that leading the Indian cricket team is 'draining' while also adding that many stalwarts of the game have captained the national side and being part of that list is an honour.

"It is quite draining, but that is what you sign up for. When you take the responsibility, I think when the opportunity came to me to lead the team, I was excited. In the last 7-8 years, I've been part of that core group decision-making, vice-captain. I led in Virat's absence a few times when he was not there, but yeah, obviously it's a huge honour to be captaining your country. You know, I have seen many greats who have captained the team stalwarts in their way, so to be alongside them, you know, it's a great honour. Great privilege," Rohit said in an exclusive chat with Dinesh Karthik on JioCinema.

For the Indian captain, statistics are overrated and he cited his own experience of hitting five hundreds in the 2019 World Cup but losing the coveted trophy.

"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?" Rohit added.

During the 2023 World Cup, Rohit Sharma batted with fearless approach as he piled up 597 runs at a strike rate of 125.94, including one hundred and three half-centuries.