Former India coach Rahul Dravid recently opened up on how ex-skipper Rohit Sharma played a selfless role to establish a fearless approach and mentality, especially in the shortest format. As India gears up for the title defence in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2026 from next month, Dravid highlighted Rohit Sharma let go of personal ambition to help India get off to flying starts which played a key role in their win in the previous T20 World Cup 2024 and runners-up finish as well in the 2023 ODI World Cup.
On the same lines during a special event celebrating ‘The Rise of the Hitman’ by author R. Kaushik which was held at the Karnataka State Cricket Association (KSCA) and hosted by Jain Sports, Dravid said,
“What was brilliant was that Rohit took the lead immediately. He took responsibility for setting the tempo himself, rather than asking others to do it. When your leader stands up and says, ‘I will do this, even if it comes at the cost of my average or my personal numbers,’ it becomes much easier to pass that message through the team.”
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While Dravid and Rohit passed on the baton to the coach-captain duo of Gautam Gambhir and Suryakumar Yadav, the tone and benchmark which was set by the previous regime only made the job easier.
The era of Gambhir-SKY witnessed unprecedented success in the shortest format and will be riding high on confidence as they gear up for the ICC event, without losing any T20I series since their previous win in T20 World Cup 2024.
The Men in Blue are placed in Group A alongside Namibia, Netherlands, Pakistan and USA and are slated to kickstart their campaign at the T20 World Cup 2026 against USA on February 7.
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