Rohit Sharma ignores Gautam Gambhir, credits Rahul Dravid and teammates for Champions Trophy win News24 –

Rohit Sharma made his first public appearance after the ODI squad for Australia tour was announced. It is also important to note that Sharma was replaced as ODI captain by Shubman Gill under the current head coach Gautam Gambhir.

When Rohit Sharma was reflecting on India’s Champions Trophy victory earlier this year, he attributed the success to Rahul Dravid’s solid foundation as head coach and the values he instilled in the team. Under Dravid’s leadership India reached the final of ODI World Cup 2023 and clinched the 2024 T20 World Cup.

“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,” Rohit said.

“We’d come so close to 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,” Rohit said.

Speaking at the 27th CEAT Cricket Rating awards in Mumbai on Tuesday, Rohit Sharma was felicitated with special mementos for leading India towards win in Champions Trophy. Even though the tournament was won under the tenure of Gautam Gambhir, Rohit acknowledged Rahul Dravid who stepped away after India’s 2024 T20 World Cup win.

“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 said.

“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.”

“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,” he added.