‘It is difficult to…’: Rohit Sharma opines on adaptability challenges across formats after India clinch T20 World Cup

New Delhi: India captain Rohit Sharma was one happy man as he led the Men in Blue to their second T20 World Cup, beating South Africa by a narrow margin of seven runs at the Kensington Oval in Barbados on Saturday. India ended the long wait of 13 years to lift an ICC World Cup and also ended their 11-year-long ICC trophy drought. The coveted T20 trophy will be arriving home soon and fans have already gone bonkers over the momentous win.

Rohit desperately sought a World Cup trophy for India as he made numerous statements on the same whenever he was asked about it in the interviews. His hunger for an ICC trophy was visible in the previous two ICC events as well when he led India to the finals of the WTC 2023 and the ODI World Cup 2023. The Indian cricket fans suffered continuous heartbreaks and were on the verge of another but it all ended as Rohit finally lived his dream and of many others by clinching the T20 title.

After the win, Rohit was asked about the difference in play across the formats varying from T20Is to Tests. In a chat with news agency ANI, Rohit was honest in giving his take on the challenges that the players face when it comes to shifting the focus from Tests to T20s and how difficult it is for them to adapt to the new conditions and bring necessary changes in one’s style and mindset of play.

“It is a big challenge to play all 3 formats let alone captaining it. For us and players it is difficult to adapt quickly. You have to work on the technical aspects and batsmanship. In T20, you have to play different shots from the start because I do the opening,” Rohit said.

He further went into the technicalities of the two formats giving differences that set them apart. “In Tests, the plan is set, field is set, the bowlers come and do their job and you just move a fielder or two here and there or to devise a plan against a particular batter. But in T20s, the game moves fast, you have to do the field placements continuously and bring in bowlers one after another. It is also fun to play different formats… I enjoyed batting and captaincy in all of them,” he added.

#WATCH | Indian Skipper Rohit Sharma says, ” It is a big challenge to play all 3 formats let alone captaining it. For us and players it is difficult to adapt quickly. You have to work on the technical aspects and batsmanship. In T20, you have to play different shots from the… pic.twitter.com/9jRyupJYay

— ANI (@ANI) June 30, 2024

Rohit hangs boots on T20Is

Soon after the celebrations were settled and Rohit arrived for the post-match press conference, he dropped another bombshell of the day, announcing his retirement from T20Is. This came after his teammate Virat Kohli had already announced his retirement from the shortest format minutes after the completion of the match. Both took the benefit of the perfect occasion to take the next step towards their ending career.

They will continue to play ODIs and Tests with domestic T20 games as well but cleared the path for the next generation to take T20 cricket for India to newer heights in the coming future.

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 Rohit Sharma finally delivered India an ICC title under his leadership and after the wild and emotional celebrations, talked about the challenges a player faces when shifting focus from one format of the game to another.  Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today