Indian captain recently shared his thoughts on India’s journey to winning the 2024 T20I World Cup and the 2025 Champions Trophy. He reflected on the team’s struggles before the victories, particularly after their 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final loss to England. 

The right-handed batter discussed the squad formation, emphasising open communication and giving players the freedom to express themselves. Despite India’s heartbreak in the 2023 ODI World Cup final against Australia, the opener highlighted the key takeaway, winning 23 out of 24 games and securing two ICC trophies. 

"Look at what this team has achieved in this big three tournaments. After playing the tournament like that and getting defeated only once, and that too in a final (2023 ODI World Cup), Rohit told MITV.

"But imagine if we had won that as well to go undefeated in three ICC tournaments is crazy, never heard of, but I will take this, 23 wins in 24 games is unheard of. It looks very nice from the outside, but the team has gone through a lot of ups and downs. We had some really tough times as well, but that is when you've got to celebrate. If you do things like this, you've got to celebrate. I feel that all the people who played these three tournaments deserve respect," Rohit said.

He admitted that the Champions Trophy win was particularly special, as it came after a challenging nine months, including a home Test series loss to New Zealand and a tough Border-Gavaskar Trophy in Australia.

"But thereafter, we made a lot of things clear with the players that this is what we expect from you, and this is how we want you to play. So there was a lot of clarity, a lot of conversations with the players to perform," he added. 

"There needs to be freedom amongst the group so that they go out and play without any fear. There were a few lows, a few series that we lost, but we never panicked and we never went away from our thought process. When you are building a squad, the first thing that you need to put in front of you is what the team want. Where did we lack in the previous series, previous tournaments? Why did we not get the results?"

"These nine months are a perfect example of how life is -- it’s always going to be up and down. Any sportsman going through a low wants to fight back, bounce back, and turn things around. And that’s exactly what we did," he reflected.

The five-time IPL winning captain admitted that his perspective changed over the years, embracing, ‘whether we lose, whether we win, we have to smile.’ He also recalled his 15-year journey with , which has shaped him as a player as well as a leader.  

"Since the time I started till now lot of things have changed because I used to bat middle-order then; now I am opening the batting. I was captain then, now I am not the captain. There were a few teammates with whom I won championships, they are not there, they are in the coaching role now. So, the roles have changed, and a lot of things have changed, but the mindset has not changed. What I want to do for this team has not changed, just to go out there and win games and trophies, that is what MI is known for all these years," he said.