Nothing hurts me more than not being part of 2011 World Cup, says Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma was a part of India’s triumph in the 2007 T20 World Cup-winning campaign but is yet to win the flagship ODI World Cup. He was a part of the 2015 campaign which India failed to win while he was ignored for the 2011-winning campaign due to poor returns in the Asia Cup just before that. Rohit reckons that nothing hurts him more than missing out on it.

“Look, there's a balance one has to draw between the kind of desperation that exists within you and the calmness you seek, if you've got to keep playing this game at the highest level. At this point in time, calmness is what I need. Not desperation. Because I've played my share of cricket to realise this is what works for me.

Rohit averaged in twenties in the first three years of his career and it even dipped to 12 in 2012. However, he has gone ahead leaps and bounds since 2013, averaging over 50 every year until 2018. He is now regarded as one of the finest limited overs batsmen and feels that playing for so many years has brought the change in him.

“The years have changed me. One hundred percent, yes,” said the 32-year-old.

“I've always been a listener. The kind of person I am, I wouldn't have evolved one bit if that wasn't the case. There's no harm in listening to people - even if the person you're listening to has just about started playing the game. Let's get one thing straight here: You can never say you're the wisest. Because that'll never be the case. I love opinions. In the end, it's up to you to decide what you want to make of those opinions,” he shared.

MS Dhoni has 224 sixes in 289 innings in his career whereas Rohit is not very far behind with 218 sixes in 200 innings. Sometimes, he is criticised for throwing his wicket away but the India opener explained that the same shots have enabled him to score runs. He even candidly shared his experience of a few ramdom people giving him batting tips.

“Yes. What those people don't understand is they know and recognize me as a cricketer because of those very shots. I wouldn't have been scoring the kind of runs I did if I didn't take those risks. For instance, just this week, someone shared an interesting stat with me. Post the 2015 World Cup, I've hit 130 sixes. The next best from India is 55. The margin of 75, you see, is the margin of risk I've taken. Simple,” he added.