Rohit Sharma Admits He Considered Retirement After 2023 World Cup Final Defeat
New Delhi: In a stunning revelation, former India captain Rohit Sharma said on Sunday that he was considering retiring after the heartbreaking defeat against Australia in the 2023 ODI World Cup final and “felt the sport had taken everything from me”.
The Indian team, under the captaincy of Rohit, had a dream run in the home tournament and reached the final with nine consecutive wins. But Australia had their hopes dashed in the most important match when Travis Head scored a match-winning hundred.
“After the 2023 World Cup final, I was devastated and felt that I didn’t want to play this sport anymore because this sport had taken everything from me and I felt like I had nothing left,” Rohit said during the Masters Union event.
“It took a while and I kept reminding myself that this was something I really loved, it was right in front of me and I couldn’t let it go that easily. “Slowly I found my way back, regained my energy and started moving on the field again.
“Everyone was extremely disappointed and we couldn’t believe what had happened. It was a very difficult time for me personally because I had given everything to that World Cup, not just two or three months before, but since I took over the captaincy in 2022,” he added.
Rohit, who retired from T20Is and Tests and was stripped of the ODI captaincy earlier this year, continues to play the 50-over format and is looking to end his career with one last try in the 2027 World Cup.
“Be it the T20 World Cup or the 2023 World Cup, my only goal was to win the World Cup. When that didn’t happen, I was completely devastated. I had no energy left in my body. It took me a few months to recover and pull myself together,” Rohit said.
Less than a year after losing to Australia in Ahmedabad, Rohit led the Indian team to the T20 World Cup title in America, but the pain of the defeat in November 2023 was extremely difficult to overcome.
“I guess when you invest so much in something and you don’t get results, it’s a very natural reaction. That’s exactly what happened to me. But I also knew that life didn’t end there.”
“This was a big lesson for me on how to deal with disappointment, reset and start fresh. “I knew something else was coming in the 2024 T20 World Cup in the USA and West Indies and I had to shift all my focus to that.
“It’s very easy to say this now but it was extremely difficult at that moment,” Rohit said.
