India won the T20 World Cup 2024 under Rohit Sharma's captaincy.
The groups and fixtures for the T20 World Cup 2026 were also unveiled, as the tournament will be played from February 7 to March 8, and India will be the defending champions, having won the previous edition in 2024, under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma.
After India defeated South Africa in the final in Barbados in June 2024, Rohit Sharma, along with Virat Kohli, announced their retirements from the T20I format, with Ravindra Jadeja following them the next day.
Rohit Sharman spoke at the event about the realization that he will be “sitting at home and watching the next World Cup on TV,” which is a new reality for him.
"It is a great honor to be here. Thank you to Jay Shah. I was just telling someone that while playing, nobody has been announced as the ICC ambassador. So, it is a great privilege for me. Hopefully, we can create that magic again with a different bunch of players this time around," Rohit Sharma said at the event, as quoted by PTI.
Rohit then discussed his three ICC trophy hauls, two of which he won as captain, as well as how the team was keen to overcome their four-year skid of no global titles between 2014 and 2023.
"It is a huge task to win an ICC trophy. I have seen that personally; I have completed 18 years of playing international cricket and have been fortunate enough to win two recently and one at the beginning of my career. Then, in the middle, there was a huge drought, during which I could not win an ICC trophy. And I know how desperate the team was, and hence it felt good to finally win those two trophies," he said.
This time, India will be captained by Suryakumar Yadav, who was a member of the 2024 T20 World Cup winning team, and Rohit admitted he has yet to fully accept the reality of trading the dressing room for the living room. However, he added that he’s slowly learning to enjoy this new phase.
"Now to sit on the other side and watch the T20 World Cup, having played all the World Cups before, will feel different. I am still getting used to sitting at home and watching it on TV. It's different, but I'm enjoying it," he added.
However, the three-time ICC trophy winner Rohit Sharma reminded everyone that he was still playing ODI cricket for India and will feature in the series against South Africa, starting November 30.
“Look, I will be meeting these guys soon. I am still playing," he concluded.