Rohit Sharma was appointed India’s all-format skipper last year after Virat Kohli relinquished T20I and Test captaincy and was sacked as ODI captain.
Under his leadership, India played the semi-final of the T20 World Cup 2022, final of the World Test Championship (WTC) this year and recently clinched the Asia Cup title.
Rohit’s next big assignment as a captain is the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, slated to get underway on October 5. The showpiece tournament at home also provides a great opportunity for the Indian team to end the ICC trophy jinx.
In their bid to win the World Cup, the Indian team management has taken some tough calls and Rohit acknowledged the same in an exclusive chat with The Indian Express.
“Ha ha! Well, quite different, but not easy either. But when the thought behind it is clear, for the sake of the team, it has to be done. I contact those who were not picked. It is very important that players know ki bhai kya chal raha hai (what is the thought behind the decision). Why is anyone dropped?. Players do get upset and it’s valid too. I too have gone through the same thing. My agenda is to get the best from the team, however, we can. I’m not the only one who decides which player I want. It is a collective decision,” Rohit said while talking about the decision to leave out a few players from the World Cup team.
Dealing with the weight of expectations will also be a big challenge for the Indian team during the home World Cup.
However, Rohit has completely blocked the outside noise. Terming the social media activities as distractions, the captain revealed that he has stopped using Twitter or Instagram long ago.
“It’s the time we live in. The new generation is more on reel, Instagram, different social media; they all are into it. I don’t run people’s lives, if people love it, they love it. Social media these days is fake. I saw someone on the team bus in the morning saying, ki dekha ki nahi, isne yeh bola, usne yeh bola. (Saw this? He said this, that). They discuss it.”
“You see my phone, you can check it, I don’t have Twitter or Instagram on my phone for the past nine months. If we have to do any commercial post, my wife handles it. These are distractions, they all are on the phone the whole day. It’s a waste of time and energy. So I have decided not to have it on my phone because if it’s there, I will watch it,” he remarked.
Sharing his captaincy philosophy, Rohit said: “The way I think about it is that as a captain, you are not the most important person; the other 10 are. That is my philosophy because eventually you have to get the best out of the other 10.”
That can involve some tough conversations as well. “Of course. I am ready to do that. You have to. I do feel that sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone and have those hard talks. It is part of this job. The captaincy job is not just on the field or to walk with a paper for the toss.
“But I like to manage the off-and-on-field differently. Captaincy is on the field. Once inside the hotel, I’m not going to people’s rooms and talking to them. They have their own privacy. Whatever conversation I like to have, it is at the ground, during training, matches and such.”
India will begin their World Cup campaign against five-time champions Australia in Chennai on October 8.
