Former India captain Rohit Sharma has opened up about his ODI future plans and stated that he wants to win the World Cup for the country which slated to take place in South Africa next year.
“Yeah, I will definitely want to go out there (South Africa) and win the World Cup for my country (India). That is something that I’ve always looked upon. I’ve grown up watching this 50-over World Cup. There was no T20 World Cup back then, no World Test Championship, and no IPL. So, we’ve all grown up watching the 50-overs World Cup, and that was the pinnacle of cricket, which used to happen every four years. So there was desperation; there was so much waiting for that one trophy. And yeah, I really want that trophy as well. So I’m going to try and do everything in my power, in my capacity, to go and try and win that.”
Sharma who has scored three double-centuries in One-day cricket was a part of the teams in 2015 and 2019 edition in Australia and England respectively while led the side in 2023 at home. Team India reached the final of the tournament in 2023 but failed to win the top prize after losing to Australia in the finale.
Question: There’s a Cricket World Cup in South Africa next year. Is that going to be the absolute laser focus for Rohit Sharma over the next 18 months?
Rohit Sharma – “Yeah look I definitely want to go out there and win the World Cup for my country.” pic.twitter.com/DtMNyDP49g
— 𝐉𝐨𝐝 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐧𝐞 (@jod_insane) February 11, 2026
Rohit scored 597 runs in the ODI World Cup 2023, and in the 2019 edition, he amassed a total of 648 runs for the Virat Kohli-led side to finish as the highest run scorer.
He scored 650 runs in 14 ODIs for Team India in 2025 and also led them to the ICC Champions Trophy title. The right-handed batter earlier led India to T20 World Cup win in 2024 as well before bidding adieu to the format. Rohit has also retired from Tests and is now focusing on ODIs.
India have won the ODI World Cup twice– the first one coming in 1983 under the captaincy of Kapil Dev and the second one in 2011 under MS Dhoni. Rohit wasn’t a part of the 2011 edition of the World Cup. Apart from 2023, the Men in Blue also played the final in 2003 under the leadership of Sourav Ganguly but lost to Australia in the title clash.
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