Not Gautam Gambhir! Rohit Sharma credits Rahul Dravid for the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 triumph

Rohit Sharma was recently replaced by Shubman Gill as the ODI captain of India.

Former India captain Rohit Sharma has credited ex-India coach Rahul Dravid for helping the team win the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. This came as a massive statement as the Indian Cricket Team won the title under Gautam Gambhir, who is the current head coach. However, Rohit feels that Dravid set the base for India’s back-to-back ICC titles.

The Rohit Sharma-led Indian team suffered a big heartbreak during ICC Cricket World Cup 2023, losing the final to Australia. The Men in Blue were unbeaten in the league stage but failed to win the summit clash. About seven months later, they bounced back by winning the ICC T20 World Cup 2024.

Following the triumph, Dravid’s tenure as head coach came to an end, and Gambhir was appointed as the new coach. Under his guidance, Rohit Sharma & Co. won the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 in March by defeating New Zealand in the final.

Rohit Sharma opens up about India’s journey to back-to-back ICC titles

Speaking during an awards show in Mumbai, Rohit revealed how the Indian team worked hard in their journey to lift the ICC title once again.

“Look, I love… I love that team. I loved playing with them. And it’s the journey that we were all into for many years. It’s not about one year of work or two years of work. It was about getting into work from many years. And we have come so close of, you know, winning that trophy many times, but we couldn’t just get over the line,” he said.

“And that is where everyone decided that we need to do something different. And there’s two things to look at it. There’s always a thought of doing that and then actually going and doing that,” he added.

Rohit Sharma credits Rahul Dravid for ICC Champions Trophy triumph

He also revealed how he and Dravid prepared and planned to win the T20 World Cup and the Champions Trophy.

“Those were the qualities that we tried to bring in and we followed a simple method of just going that… going and doing that repeatedly. And everyone enjoyed that process. You know, once we got over the line, when we won the first game, we’ve completely put that game aside and then started focusing on the next one,” he said.

“So that was really good from the team and that is something that helped me and Rahul (Dravid) bhai, when we were planning for the T20 World Cup and then on to the Champions Trophy,” Rohit added.

Meanwhile, Rohit was recently replaced by Shubman Gill as the ODI captain of India. The latter will lead the side in the upcoming series against Australia, scheduled to begin on October 19. Rohit and Virat Kohli, who last played in ICC Champions Trophy, are also part of the squad.

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