After being named as the 2026 Men’s T20 World Cup brand ambassador, Rohit Sharma displayed patience and style, qualities that have long defined both his batting and persona.
The 38-year-old right-hander stated on Tuesday that he is growing accustomed to watching the sport on television at home rather than participating in it, quite a few months after he retired from T20I and Test format.
However, Rohit still plays in the ODI format, and he felt incredibly honored to be named a brand ambassador for an ICC event, which is uncommon for an active player.
Rohit remarked, “I was told by someone that while playing no one has been announced as an ambassador so it’s a great privilege and honour for me,” at the announcement of the schedule for the forthcoming event, which India and Sri Lanka will jointly host from February 7 to March 8.
Rohit is already looking for an encore by the Suryakumar Yadav-led defending champions in front of the home fans after leading the India to victory at the 2024 T20 World Cup.
“Hopefully we can create again the magic which we created last year with a different bunch of boys. It’s a huge task to win an ICC event and in my 18 years I have been fortunate to win two recently. To finally come out and win those trophies feel good,” Rohit said.
Rohit is gradually adjusting to this life by spending time with his family, exercising, and going to social events, even if it hasn’t been simple to move away from the two formats.
“To sit on other side and watch, having played in each of these (T20) World Cups so far, will feel different. I’m getting used to sitting at home and watching,” Rohit said after being named the brand ambassador by ICC chairman Jay Shah.
With 4,231 runs at an average of 32.01 and a strike rate of 140.89, Rohit has been a prolific player for India in Twenty20 Internationals.
Rohit, who has always been known to support his teammates wholeheartedly, was all praise for the Indian women’s team’s recent World Cup victory, which came after years of heartache.
With Indian women’s team skipper Harmanpreet Kaur also in attendance, Rohit said, “I know what they have gone through all these years. I can understand the feeling of setbacks year after year for not winning the trophy.
“I was there, that’s the moment you live and work hard for and I am sure a lot of hard work has gone in before that World Cup started. I was just asking her after the England game, the coach (Amol Muzumdar), I know him well and understand him very well and I was asking her if he was calm and the answer was not surprising. He is very passionate.
“Even though I was not there, I could feel what happened after the England game. For them to lift the trophy, I was there to watch that, it was a great feeling not just for me but for the entire nation.”
After India’s victory in the Americas last year, which ended the team’s 11-year ICC trophy drought, Rohit retired from the shortest format.
Speaking about the groupings in the upcoming T20 World Cup, he said, “Our Group has Pakistan, USA, the Netherlands and Namibia. You cannot go into any tournament thinking that you cannot take the foot off the pedal and have to be (on top of your game) from ball one.
“All these teams are quite competitive and every team comes very well prepared. I am quite amazed to see Italy also.
“Hope to see many more teams from Europe, Africa and even South East Asia and eventually we will see that because the sport has taken a giant leap,” he added.
