NEW DELHI: In a stunning and deeply personal revelation, former India captain Rohit Sharma has admitted that he contemplated walking away from cricket altogether after India’s crushing loss to Australia in the final of the 2023 ODI World Cup in Ahmedabad.Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW!Speaking at a Masters’ Union event on Sunday, Rohit laid bare the emotional toll of the defeat, describing a period when the sport he loved felt like it had “taken everything” out of him.“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, under Rohit’s leadership, had enjoyed a near-perfect campaign at home, storming into the final with ten straight wins. But in the match that mattered most, Australia executed their plans to perfection. After India were restricted to 240, Travis Head’s match-winning century guided the Pat Cummins-led side to a six-wicket victory, leaving a stunned Narendra Modi Stadium in silence.Rohit said the pain was amplified by the sheer emotional investment he had made since taking over the captaincy in 2022. “Everybody was extremely disappointed, and we just couldn’t believe what had happened. 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 became captain.”
Poll
Will the experience of winning the T20 World Cup in 2024 impact Rohit’s approach in the 2027 ODI World Cup?
The 38-year-old admitted it took months to recover mentally. “There was no energy left in my body. It took me a couple of months to recover and bring myself back,” he said, adding that self-reflection and a reminder of his love for the game helped him find his way back.That resilience would soon define the next chapter. Less than a year after the Ahmedabad heartbreak, Rohit led India to the T20 World Cup title in the USA and West Indies, a triumph he described as a lesson in resetting after disappointment.“I knew life doesn’t end there. It was a big lesson — how to deal with disappointment, reset, and start fresh,” Rohit said. “It’s very easy to say this now, but at that moment, it was extremely difficult.”Though he has since retired from Tests and T20Is and no longer captains the ODI side, Rohit continues in the 50-over format, with one final dream still driving him — a last shot at World Cup glory in 2027.
