Rohit Sharma has been unveiled as the brand ambassador for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup, set to be co-hosted by India and Sri Lanka next year. The announcement was made by ICC chairman Jay Shah during the schedule launch event in Mumbai on Tuesday.
Rohit won his first T20 World Cup when MS Dhoni led India to their maiden T20 World Cup victory in 2007. He went on to compete in every edition that followed. He won his first ICC trophy as captain in 2024 after leading India to victory in the T20 World Cup with a thrilling victory over South Africa at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados.
Rohit is only the second Indian skipper to win the trophy, and he is still the only Indian player to win two T20 World Cup titles. Together with Virat Kohli, Rohit retired from Twenty20 Internationals after winning the title in 2024.
Rohit expressed his gratitude for being the first Indian cricketer to be nominated as an ICC brand ambassador.
“Good evening, everyone. From the bottom of my heart, I’d like to thank the ICC and Jay Shah. It’s a huge honour to be an ambassador of an ICC event. I was just told that no active player has ever been announced as an ICC ambassador, so this is a big privilege for me and a great honour as well. I’m very thankful and very grateful,” Rohit said.
“Hopefully, we can create the same magic we created last year, even though it will be with a different bunch of boys this time.”
Rohit recalled how difficult it is to win an ICC title. After winning the Champions Trophy in 2013, India had to wait 11 years to win another ICC trophy before winning the T20 World Cup last year.
Having participated in several T20 World Cup editions, Rohit, who is currently only playing ODI cricket after retiring from Tests back in May, stated that he is now excited to watch the competition from the comfort of his own home. He also recalled watching the Indian women’s team win the ODI World Cup live from the Navi Mumbai venue.
“Winning an ICC trophy is a huge challenge. I’ve seen that personally over the years—I’ve completed 18 years in international cricket. I’ve been fortunate to win two recently, and two early in my career.
But in the middle, there was a long drought where we couldn’t win an ICC trophy, and I know how desperate we were as players, as a team, and as management to get our hands on one. To finally come out and win those trophies felt really good. You can see the amount of happiness it brings to the country with the sport we play,” Rohit said.
“Now, to sit on the other side and watch the T20 World Cup—having played all the World Cups and not being there—will definitely feel different. But I’m getting used to sitting at home and watching a few games. It’s different, but I’m enjoying it—whether it’s sitting at home or in the stadium watching the women win. I’ll come to that in a moment,” Rohit added.
