Rohit Sharma Unplugged: Here's What India Superstar Said After Captaincy Transition

Having been phased out of one-day international captaincy, Rohit Sharma reflected on his journey so far, expressing pride in excelling across all three formats for India.

Rohit, who has been replaced by Shubman Gill as captain in both Tests and ODIs but remains in the squad alongside Virat Kohli for a three-match ODI series in Australia starting on October 19, shared his sentiments.

"I personally took a lot of pride in trying to excel in all three formats whenever I had the opportunity and that is something that a few others also did and that eventually rubbed off on the team as well," he said at the CEAT Cricket Rating awards in Mumbai.

Speaking about the challenge Down Under, Rohit opined: "I love playing against them. I love going to Australia. It's a very challenging country to play cricket. People there love the game as well.

"But certainly, Australia is a different challenge every time they have played against us. Having been there now several times, I do understand what to expect. Hopefully we can go there and do what the Indian team is supposed to do and get the result in our favour," he added.

Rohit Looks Back At T20 World Cup, Champions Trophy Triumphs

After the heartbreaking loss in the 2023 ODI World Cup final at home to Australia, India, under the leadership of Rohit Sharma and inspired by processes established during Rahul Dravid’s tenure, bounced back to win the 2024 T20 World Cup and later the 2025 Champions Trophy.

Rohit elaborated on the philosophy behind the successes. "Look, I love that team, loved playing with them and it's a journey that we were all into, for many years. It's not about one year or two years of work. It was about getting into work from many years," he said.

"We'd come so close of winning that trophy many times but we couldn't just get over the line. That is where everyone decided that we need to do something different and there's two (ways) to look at it.

"There's always a thought of doing that and then actually going and doing that. It cannot be done by one or two players. We needed everyone to buy into that thought, which was good from everyone," he added.

Team Mindset And Approach During ICC Events

Rohit received a memento for winning the Champions Trophy and detailed the team’s focused approach during crucial ICC events. "All the guys who took part in that competition (Champions Trophy) got into that thought process of how to win games and how to challenge ourselves and not be complacent and not to take anything for granted," he said.

"Those were the qualities that we tried to bring in and we thought it was a good method of just going and doing that repeatedly. Everyone enjoyed that process. Once we got over the line when we won the first game, we completely put that game aside and then started focusing on the next one," he remarked.

"That was really good from the team and that is something that helped me and Rahul (Dravid) bhai when we were planning for the (2024) T20 World Cup, and then on to the Champions Trophy. We just carried it well.

"In 2023, although we didn't cross the line in the finals, we set out to do something as a team and everyone did that," he added.

(With PTI inputs)