Rohit Sharma credited the success India achieved in the 2025 Champions Trophy to the foundation laid during Rahul Dravid’s leadership, highlighting the importance of the team embracing the philosophy established under the former captain-coach duo. Together, Rohit and Dravid helped India rebound from the disappointment of losing the 2023 ODI World Cup final at home against Australia by clinching the next two ICC tournaments ; the 2024 T20 World Cup followed by the 2025 Champions Trophy.
Speaking at the CEAT Cricket Rating awards, Rohit said, “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 elaborated on the team’s long-standing efforts to cross the finishing line, saying, “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.”
Talks About Process
Rohit, who received a commemorative memento for the Champions Trophy victory, outlined the team’s mindset during their victorious ICC campaigns under his leadership. “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 explained. “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 added, “That was really good from the team and that is something that helped me and Rahul 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.”
It should be noted that Gautam Gambhir, not Dravid, was the head coach when India lifted the Champions Trophy.
On Upcoming Australia Series
Rohit also expressed pride in striving to excel across all three formats and acknowledged the challenges ahead on the upcoming Australia tour, especially following his removal as ODI captain. Having been succeeded by Shubman Gill in both Tests and ODIs, Rohit remains part of the Indian squad for the three-match ODI series in Australia beginning October 19, alongside Virat Kohli.
“I personally took a lot of pride in trying to excel in all three forms 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,” Rohit remarked.
Reflecting on the Australian conditions, he added, “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.