Rohit Sharma is widely regarded as one of the best captains in the modern-day game. He has led Team India with great success, especially in the white-ball formats.

Under his leadership, India have won two Asia Cup titles and equal number of ICC trophies – Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 and Champions Trophy 2025.

Such has been the dominance of India in the global tournaments that they have lost only one out of their last 24 matches, with the defeat coming against Australia in the 2023 ODI World Cup final at Ahmedabad.

Speaking to Michael Clarke on the ‘Beyond23 Cricket Podcast’, Rohit explained how the lows that the Indian cricket team was going through helped him and his side to go all out for the ICC Champions Trophy.

“We had to go through so many lows before that tournament began. We didn’t have a great home series against New Zealand and then Australia as well. So we wanted to turn things back. We wanted to bounce back," Rohit said.

“And you know, it’s just that playing with this bunch of guys who are so clear in their minds what they want to do and how they want to achieve it. It’s one thing to talk about, OK, I want to go and achieve this, but how do you do that? That is the clarity everyone has in the squad and we tried and kept the same pretty much similar squad of what we had during the 50-Over World Cup, because I thought we played really good. So I don’t think or I don’t see any reason that we need to change anybody unless there is an injury problem which we had in Bumrah," he added.

When asked about missing the services of someone like Jasprit Bumrah in the Champions Trophy, Sharma remarked. “You can’t honestly rely on one or two individuals. And that is the talk that has been happening constantly in this changing room that we’re not going to be relied on one or two individuals. We need contributions from everyone and that is what all these guys were up to."

Rohit also addressed the question about playing cricket for the country in late 30s, saying that he feels age doesn’t dictate one’s ability but being ‘driven by success’ is.

“I think when you when you start playing the game, you don’t realise that it’s all about, it’s a lot about winning trophies, it’s all about staying with the team, enjoying that moment, creating memories. It’s all about scoring runs. I want to score, I want to perform, I want to take that pressure on me and I want to keep performing," Rohit said.

“When you come into the team, as you keep playing, you realise that I don’t think it’s all about scoring runs, it’s about winning games, it’s about winning trophies, it’s winning, it’s about winning tournaments," he further stated.