'Our time will come': Rohit Sharma optimistic about India's quest for ICC trophy

India's captain, Rohit Sharma, remains confident that their long-sought ICC trophy is within reach, despite a decade-long pursuit. The disappointment of the recent World Cup 2023 final loss to Australia extended India's ICC title drought to ten years, their last triumph being the Champions Trophy in 2013 under MS Dhoni's leadership.

Speaking to JioCinema on the sidelines of the opening Test against England, Rohit expressed optimism, saying, 'The last three years have been great. Apart from securing ICC trophy finals, we have triumphed in every other aspect. Winning is a mindset, and I believe our time will come. We need to focus on the present, not dwell on the past, as we cannot change it. Our collective focus is on the future; we are playing our hearts out.'

After being runners-up in the 2014 T20I World Cup, India faced semi-final exits in the 2015 ODI World Cup, the 2016 T20 World Cup, and the 2019 ODI World Cup. The agony persisted with defeats in the finals of the 2017 Champions Trophy and a semi-final loss in the 2022 T20 World Cup. Additionally, India lost the finals of the first two World Test Championship cycles.

Rohit Sharma, known for his aggressive captaincy, emphasized his approach to leadership, stating, 'I aimed to instill a change, encouraging players to play with freedom. I wanted to remove the obsession with statistics from this team. Numbers are overrated; in India, we talk a lot about them. I scored five hundreds in the 2019 World Cup, but we still lost. The hundreds don't matter. I may reflect on them 20 years later after retirement, but what we needed was the trophy. Individual accomplishments are secondary; team sports are about winning trophies, not about personal milestones', he added.