India’s captain, Rohit Sharma, maintains his status as one of the most formidable batsmen of his era. Despite his impressive five centuries in the 2019 ODI World Cup, a tournament etched in history, India faced a semi-final exit. Now leading the team, Rohit shared his captaincy philosophy with veteran wicket-keeper Dinesh Karthik, emphasizing the significance of granting players freedom over fixating on statistics. Speaking on Jio Cinema, Rohit delved into the demanding nature of captaincy within the Indian team. He revealed the mental preparedness he had upon assuming full-time captaincy, asserting that, for him, ‘numbers are overrated’. Using his own journey as an example, Rohit highlighted the importance of prioritizing player freedom over statistical concerns.
Rohit Sharma said: “It is quite draining, but that is what you sign up for. When you take the responsibility, I think when the opportunity came to me to lead the team, I was excited. In the last 7-8 years, I’ve been part of that core group decision-making, vice-captain. I led in Virat’s absence a few times when he was not there, but yeah, obviously it’s a huge honour to be captaining your country. You know, I have seen many greats who have captained the team stalwarts in their way, so to be alongside them, you know, it’s a great honour. Great privilege.”
“I wanted to bring a certain change. Players going out there and playing with a lot of freedom, that statistical side of cricket. I want to completely take it out of this team. People are not looking at numbers. People are not looking at their personal scores and just play the game. Numbers are overrated. In India, we do talk a lot about numbers and all of that. But like, yeah, I got five hundreds in 2019 World Cup but kya hua uska, haar gaye na (but what happened, we still lost)?”
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