mobile app bar

Rohit Sharma on 2019 World Cup performance: “No fun of scoring centuries if you don’t win”

Dixit Bhargav
Published

Rohit Sharma on 2019 World Cup performance: "No fun of scoring centuries if you don't win"

Rohit Sharma on 2019 World Cup performance: The Indian vice-captain laid emphasis on individual knocks winning matches for India.

India limited-over vice-captain Rohit Sharma received plentiful heartening wishes across social media platforms upon turning 33 yesterday.

Sharma, who would have been captaining Mumbai Indians in the 13th season of the Indian Premier League had the novel COVID-19 pandemic not played spoilsport, has been thanking all the well-wishers for their wishes since morning.

Sharma, who recently featured alongside star Indian women’s cricketers in Smriti Mandhana and Jemimah Rodrigues on their YouTube show ‘Double Trouble’, talked about not paying much heed to expectations and explained how it took him 5-6 years to deal with the same.

“Expectations, as long as you’re playing cricket, as long as you’re playing for the national team, will be there. And that is mandatory; that is not going to change. Be it a 10-year-old or a 60-year-old, they will expect you to score runs, they will expect you to do something magical every day. That shouldn’t be on your mind while you’re playing.

“And it has taken me a lot of time to deal with that. The first 5-6 years was very, very difficult and how I came out of it was just by ignoring everything around me. It’s important to create a shield around yourself and not all the things outside shouldn’t travel inside that. How you do that is by mentally staying strong,” Sharma was quoted as saying on Double Trouble.

Rohit Sharma on 2019 World Cup performance

Sharma, who has undergone a stellar transformation since regularly opening for India, had a phenomenal ICC Cricket World Cup last year. Having scored 648 runs in nine ODIs at an average of 81 and a strike rate of 98.33 including five centuries and a half-century, Sharma emerged as the highest run-scorer in the tournament.

Having said that, the right-hand batsman opined that he finds no fun in scoring centuries when the team ends up on the losing side. While India played well throughout the tournament, they were found wanting in testing conditions in the semi-final against New Zealand.

“Firstly, I don’t play for anyone; I play for myself and I play for the team. I want to contribute in whatever way I can and make sure that the team wins. Because I’ve seen it – you score 100, 200 or 300,  but there is no fun if you don’t win the game.

“That’s what happened to me in the World Cup. All those hundreds, I don’t know where it’s lying. It’s lying somewhere, because we don’t have the trophy,” Sharma said.

About the author

Dixit Bhargav

Dixit Bhargav

x-iconfacebook-iconinstagram-iconlinkedin-icon

Born and brought up in Pathankot, Dixit Bhargav is an engineering and sports management graduate who works as a Cricket Editor at The SportsRush. Having written more than 10,000 articles across more than five years at TSR, his first cricketing memory dates back to 2002 when former India captain Sourav Ganguly had waved his jersey at the historic Lord’s balcony. What followed for an 8-year-old was an instant adulation for both Ganguly and the sport. The optimist in him is waiting for the day when Punjab Kings will win their maiden Indian Premier League title. When not watching cricket, he is mostly found in a cinema hall watching a Punjabi movie.

Share this article