Indian batter Rohit Sharma has lauded former head coach Rahul Dravid for laying down the foundational processes that propelled team India to victories at the T20I World Cup and Champions Trophy. Sharma reflected on India’s successful campaign at the 2025 ICC Champions Trophy, crediting the victory to the team’s unwavering commitment to the systems and culture instilled during Dravid’s tenure.
"Look, I love that team, loved playing with them, and it's a journey that we were all into for many years. It's not about one year or two years of work. It was about getting into work from many years," Rohit said during the CEAT Cricket Rating awards.
"We'd come so close of winning that trophy many times but we couldn't just get over the line. That is where everyone decided that we need to do something different, and there's two things to look at it. There's always a thought of doing that and then actually going and doing that. It cannot be done by one or two players. We needed everyone to buy into that thought, which was good from everyone," Rohit said.
"All the guys who took part in that competition (Champions Trophy) got into that thought process of how to win games and how to challenge ourselves and not be complacent and not to take anything for granted," he said.
"Those were the qualities that we tried to bring in and we followed a simple method of just going and doing that repeatedly. Everyone enjoyed that process. Once we got over the line when we won the first game, we completely put that game aside and then started focusing on the next one. So, that was really good from the team and that is something that helped me and Rahul bhai when we were planning for the (2024) T20 World Cup and then on to the Champions Trophy. We just carried it well.
"In 2023, although we didn't cross the line in the finals, we set out to do something as a team, and everyone did that," he added.
After the heartbreak of the 2023 ODI World Cup final loss to Australia on home soil, Team India made an extraordinary comeback. Under the leadership of Rohit and Dravid, India won the 2024 T20 World Cup title before adding the 2025 Champions Trophy to their trophy cabinet.