India skipper Rohit Sharma opened up on the change in approach that saw him transition from being an accumulator at the top of the order to a fearless hitter during the powerplay overs in white-ball cricket.
His selfless approach has been hailed as transformative, helping to eradicate the fear of failure among Indian batters in the white-ball formats.
Despite boasting three double hundreds in ODIs and scoring as many as five centuries in the 2019 World Cup, Rohit has managed just three tons in the last five years. However, he has batted a strike rate of over 100 in four of the last five years of his ODI career.
Leading from the front, Rohit stressed that the team should prioritise impact over personal milestones. Under his captaincy, India reached the final of the 2023 World Cup undefeated while they clinched the Champions Trophy 2025 without dropping a single match.
"It was never going to be easy. Everybody had their own style of playing. Apart from maybe winning trophies, we have had so much success over the last decade in international cricket. To ignore all that is difficult. You are scoring runs and winning. What's lacking? What's the need to do something different? I thought there was a need to do something different because the trophy was not coming," Rohit told Star Sports after winning the Champions Trophy.
"As a captain, I wanted to focus more on how we can win games and how we can win trophies. For that, I had to keep personal milestones on the side. It's not that I don't want to score hundreds and 150s, I want to score them. But, our middle-order and lower-order gave me so much confidence. If the batters who are playing below me don't give me that confidence, I won't play like this.
"Look at the experience of our batting order. From No. 3 to No. 8, we have so much experience. The batting order is so experienced, so flexible. In the 2023 World Cup, on good pitches, we needed to score 350. We need to make those runs because dew came in the evening. So, we had to take chances at the top, use the powerplay. That was my thinking," he explained.
India's failure to progress beyond the semi-finals in the 2019 World Cup and the 2022 T20 World Cup, along with a first-round exit in the 2021 T20 World Cup, prompted Rohit to reconsider his strategy.
He also credited Shubman Gill's style at the top of the order in ODIs for giving him the confidence to play attacking cricket from the outset.
"It wasn't as if I woke up one fine day and decided to start swinging my bat. There was planning behind this-we needed to maximise the powerplay. Gill, who bats with me, has his own style. We complemented each other well. He plays down the ground brilliantly and finds the gaps effectively. This frustrates bowlers-one batter is hitting them along the ground, while the other is taking them over the top. As a captain, I think this forces the opposition's bowlers to think twice," Rohit remarked.
The India captain further added: "I want to play this way, but the 2019 World Cup taught me that scoring big runs is good. However, if you don't win matches and trophies, what is the point of scoring runs? That was a lesson for me. I'm not saying everyone should follow it, but it's something I learnt. Of course, you also need the backing of the team."
After leading India to the Champions Trophy 2025 triumph, Rohit Sharma also addressed the inevitable question regarding his future, confirming that he is not retiring from the 50-over format. However, the 37-year-old remained non-committal about his participation in the 2027 ODI World Cup.
