This was always the plan

Rohit Sharma

Rohit Sharma couldn't stop the tears. Rohit Sharma couldn't stop grinning. Sometimes, he couldn't stop doing both at the same time. But why should he have? After more than a decade of World Cup heartbreak, Rohit joined an exclusive club of Indian captains to have lifted the World Cup.

Only Kapil Dev and Mahendra Singh Dhoni have lifted the World Cup before Rohit Sharma. And 17 years after he had worn a T20 World Cup winner's medal around his neck for the first time in Johannesburg in 2007, Rohit had the singular honour of receiving the trophy and hoisting it here on Saturday, the perfect way to bow out internationally from a format he has made his own.

ODI final disappointment

Rohit had run just about the perfect campaign at the 50-over World Cup at home last winter, only to embrace bitter disappointment following the six-wicket loss to Australia in the final. To say that he was gutted would be an understatement. He had led by example with breathtakingly rapid and attractive runs, he had got his team to buy into his philosophy of attack and fearlessness, and yet the pot of gold was a stretch too far.

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India captain Rohit Sharma is ecstatic after receiving the T20 World Cup trophy in Barbados on Saturday. Pic/Getty Images

It took the skipper a while to get over that terrible night in Ahmedabad, but time doesn't stop still for anyone, does it? A little over a month after the November 19 defeat, India were playing a Test match in Centurion. A little over a fortnight after Mumbai Indians' early elimination from IPL 2024, India were playing their first match of the T20 World Cup. There really is no time to mope or brood in international cricket, is there?

Before he came to the Americas, Rohit had made up his mind that he would bid adieu to T20Is after this tournament, but the announcement came only upon specific prodding at the press conference. There was a touch of regret, maybe even annoyance, that the question was asked in that setting, but he wasn't going to let anything spoil his mood. He smiled, posed for pictures, signed accreditation cards, magnanimous in victory, humble in his status as a World Cup-winning captain.

The World Cup win is a great achievement, without a doubt, but Rohit's contribution goes deeper. It goes to the core of the Indian psyche, to altering the mindset that once used to place a premium on individual brilliance at the altar of team success.

Proud legacy

Rohit Sharma falls to the ground in celebration moments after India beat South Africa to win the T20 World Cup. Pic/PTI

In getting his colleagues to shed their fascination for milestones, and doing so by setting the tone himself, he has laid down the marker for future generations. Virat Kohli's legacy - like Rohit, his predecessor too walked away from T20Is - will remain the non-negotiable commitment to fitness and assembling a pace attack that instilled fear in the hearts of opponents worldwide. Rohit's will be to shed decades of diffidence and individualism and drive home the message of unity in purpose.

Greatest achievement?

"Having this [the World Cup trophy] now right beside me… I honestly don't know if it's the greatest [achievement] or what, but it is definitely one of the greatest," he smiled. We shall take that for now, Rohit.