“After the 2007 defeat, winning the World Cup became my dream. I took it as a challenge. I told myself that I wanted to win the trophy. It was a challenge and I worked for it.”
Sachin Tendulkar said this in an interview with Mid Day when Team India won the World Cup after 28 years in 2011.
That was Sachin Tendulkar’s last World Cup. At that time, Virat Kohli was Team India’s rising star. Rohit Sharma was not a part of that World Cup, but Team India’s future was also seen in him.
After 12 years, Team India came very close and missed winning the World Cup title. But like Sachin, Rohit Sharma’s team also took winning the title as a challenge.
Overcoming this challenge, Team India has won two big titles in 15 months. On 29 June 2024, Team India won the T20 World Cup by defeating South Africa and now on 9 March 2025, the Indian team has won the Champions Trophy for a record third time.
In the 2007 ODI World Cup, Team India, adorned with stars like Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, and Dhoni, was eliminated in the first round itself.
After that, Team India made a strong comeback and won the first T20 World Cup just 6 months later. In 2011, Team India won the ODI World Cup after 28 years, and then in 2013 won the Champions Trophy for the second time.
This tournament is also seen as Rohit Sharma’s comeback in international cricket. In this tournament, Rohit Sharma got a chance to open and then he never looked back.
But after this, the long wait for the title win started.
The tag of ‘chokers’ from 2013 to 2023
Team India performed brilliantly in the T20 World Cup held in 2014. But in the final, Sri Lanka defeated Team India by six wickets and stopped them from winning the title.
In the 2015 ODI World Cup, the journey of the Indian team stopped in the semi-finals. In the 2016 T20 World Cup also, Team India could not progress beyond the semi-finals.
In the 2017 Champions Trophy final, Pakistan defeated India by 180 runs. New Zealand defeated India in the semi-finals of the 2019 ODI World Cup.
In 2021, New Zealand stopped Team India from winning the final of the ICC Test Championship as well. In the same year, the Indian team could not even reach the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup.
In the 2022 T20 World Cup, Team India’s journey remained till the semi-finals. The Indian team also faced disappointment in the 2023 ICC Test Championship final.
The World Cup was being played on Indian soil in 2023. By winning 10 matches in a row, Team India showed such a spirit that it did not want to repeat the mistakes of the last 10 years. But in the final, Australia defeated India and broke Rohit Sharma’s team’s title of winning the World Cup.
With that defeat, the Indian players must have thought with disappointed faces about what should be done so that the title did not slip out of their hands in the last moments.
T20 World Cup victory
Team India’s recovery from the 2023 defeat started after eight months.
In the T20 World Cup, on June 9, in the group stage match, Team India faced Pakistan. Team India could not even play the full 20 overs and was all out after scoring 119 runs.
After 12 overs, Pakistan had scored 72 runs after losing two wickets and its victory seemed certain. But from here the Indian team made a comeback. Thanks to Bumrah’s amazing performance, India won this match by 6 runs.
After this, it seemed as if India’s winning streak started. From here, the Indian team got the confidence that it could make a comeback even in matches that seemed impossible.
Something similar was seen in the final played on 29 June.
India, batting first, scored 176 runs in 20 overs, losing seven wickets.
South Africa needed to score 29 runs in 30 balls to win and had 6 wickets in hand. Bumrah gave only four runs in the next over. The match started getting interesting.
On the first ball of the 17th over, Pandya sent Klaasen back to the pavilion. The match started getting exciting. Bumrah showed magic and gave only two runs in the 18th over. India came back in the match. The remaining work was completed by Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya.
India won the final match by seven runs and the 11-year-long losing streak in ICC tournaments came to an end.
This is what Rohit Sharma said after winning the T20 World Cup
After this victory, Rohit Sharma said, “What we have gone through in the last three to four years cannot be described. We worked hard as a team. After this victory, a lot has been left behind.”
“It is not that we have won this victory for the first time. We were working hard for three years. We have got the result today. We played a lot of pressure matches. But the result did not go in our favor.”
“We understood what needs to be done. Today is an example of that. We learned how to make a comeback. We stood firm as a team.”
Unbeaten journey in the Champions Trophy
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Team India carried forward the winning streak of the T20 World Cup in the Champions Trophy. The batsmen and bowlers of the Indian team were in amazing form throughout the tournament.
Not once in all the five matches did Indian bowlers let the opposing team score 300 runs. Three Indians were included in the top 10 players who took the most wickets in the tournament.
Varun Chakravarthy proved to be India’s ‘trump card’ and he took 9 wickets in three matches. Mohammad Shami also managed to take 9 wickets in five matches. Kuldeep Yadav got seven wickets in five matches.
At the same time, five Indian players are included in the 15 players who scored the most runs in the tournament. Shreyas Iyer scored 243 runs, while Virat Kohli scored 218 runs in the tournament.
This is an example of how all the players of the team contributed to the victory of the team and defeated the opposing team without any difficulty in any match of the Champions Trophy.
What did Rohit Sharma say after the victory?
Captain Rohit Sharma was awarded the Player of the Match for his 76-run innings in the final match.
Rohit Sharma said, “It feels great. We played very good cricket and the results were in our favor. I am playing attacking cricket. Sometimes the results don’t go in your favor.”
“That’s why I needed depth in batting. Jadeja being at number eight gives me confidence. I had a clear idea in my mind about what I wanted.”
