Former India captain Rohit Sharma has made a deeply emotional revelation, admitting that the pain of losing the 2023 ODI World Cup final to Australia almost pushed him to retire from the game.
Speaking at a Masters Union event on Sunday, Rohit said the defeat left him completely drained, both mentally and emotionally. Under his leadership, India had stormed into the final with nine straight wins, only to see their dream shattered by Australia, powered by Travis Head’s match-winning century.
“After 2023 World Cup final, I was completed 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.
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He explained that walking away briefly crossed his mind, but his love for the game eventually pulled him back.
From heartbreak to 'I found my way back'
“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. Slowly, I found my way back, regaining the energy and getting myself moving again on the field," Rohit said the loss hit him harder because of the effort he had invested since taking over as captain in 2022.
He added, “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 took over the captaincy in 2022.”
Now retired from T20Is and Tests, and no longer India’s ODI captain, Rohit continues to play the 50-over format with his eyes set on one final World Cup push in 2027.
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Rohit shared, “My only goal was to win the World Cup… So when it didn’t happen, I was completely devastated. There was no energy left in my body. It was a big lesson for me how to deal with disappointment, reset, and start fresh… It’s very easy to say this now, but at that moment, it was extremely difficult.”
Less than a year later, Rohit led India to the 2024 T20 World Cup title, but he admitted the emotional scars of November 2023 were hard to overcome.
