I want to win games, I want to win championships. That is what you play for: Rohit

Emphasising that sport is all about winning championships, India skipper Rohit Sharma on Tuesday said he wants to win one or two major titles before he quits as the leader of the pack.

India’s inability to win an ICC title in the last 10 years, despite numerous opportunities, has been discussed consistently ahead of the World Test Championship final against Australia, starting Wednesday at The Oval. Rohit had taken over from Virat Kohli as all-format captain after the latter stepped down following the Test series defeat in South Africa in early 2022.

A day before the big final, Rohit was asked about the legacy he would like to leave as captain.

”Whether it’s me or someone else, even the guys before, their role was to take Indian cricket forward and win as many games, as many championships as possible. For me also, it will be the same. I want to win games, I want to win championships. That is what you play for,” Rohit said during the pre-match press conference.

”And yeah, it will be nice to win some titles, win some extraordinary series. But yeah, like having said that, I genuinely feel that we don’t want to put too much pressure on ourselves by overthinking about these kind of stuff. ‘As a captain, like I said, every captain wants to win championships, So I’ll be no different. I also want to win championship. And that’s what the sport is all about, winning championship. So for me, it will be nice if I can win one or two championships, as in when I decide to move on from this job.”

On another nippy and overcast morning in London, Rohit was among the four squad members who turned up for optional practice. R Ashwin, Umesh and K S Bharat were the others who showed up in the morning session along with the net bowlers.