Rohit Sharma World Cup 2023: In a heartfelt admission, former India captain Rohit Sharma revealed he nearly walked away from cricket following India's heartbreaking defeat to Australia in the 2023 ODI World Cup final. Speaking at a Masters Union event on Sunday, Rohit opened up about the severe emotional toll of that November night in Ahmedabad.
He confessed that the loss left him feeling drained and questioning his future in the sport. "After the 2023 World Cup final, I was completely distraught and felt like I didn’t want to play this sport anymore because it had taken everything out of me and I felt I had nothing left," Rohit said.
India had stormed into the final on the back of a dominant ten-match winning streak, only to fall short at the final hurdle against Pat Cummins' side. For Rohit, the pain stemmed from the long-term preparation invested in the campaign.
"Everybody was extremely disappointed, and we just couldn’t believe what had happened," he explained. "It was a very tough time for me personally because I had put everything into that World Cup not just two or three months before it, but ever since I took over the captaincy in 2022."
The 38-year-old admitted that the physical and mental exhaustion took months to overcome. He described a period where he had "no energy left" in his body, but self-reflection eventually helped him navigate the crisis. "It took some time and I kept reminding myself that this is something I truly love, that it was right in front of me, and I couldn’t let it go so easy," Rohit noted. "Slowly, I found my way back, regaining the energy and getting myself moving again on the field."
That resilience paid off less than a year later when Rohit led India to the T20 World Cup title in the USA and West Indies. He viewed the earlier defeat as a harsh but necessary lesson in leadership and perseverance. "I guess when you invest so much into something and don’t achieve the result, it’s a very natural reaction," he said.
"It was a big lesson for me how to deal with disappointment, reset, and start fresh. I knew that something else was coming in the 2024 T20 World Cup... and I had to shift all my focus towards that. It’s very easy to say this now, but at that moment, it was extremely difficult."
Since that turbulent period, the landscape of Rohit's career has changed drastically; he has retired from T20 Internationals and Tests and was recently removed from the ODI captaincy. However, he continues to feature in the 50-over format with his eyes set on one final target.