'It wasn't easy to digest, but life moves on' - Rohit Sharma breaks silence on ODI World Cup 2023 agony

On Wednesday, Rohit Sharma opened up for the first time on social media since India's World Cup heartbreak. He openly talked about how tough it was for him emotionally after India lost to Australia in the ODI World Cup final. The loss came after India had been doing well in the tournament, and it hit Rohit hard, leaving him to deal with the aftermath.

Rohit said that he had no clue about how to bounce back from that loss. However, his family and friends provided unwavering support, keeping his spirits up and maintaining a light atmosphere around him as it wasn't easy to digest the loss at all.

"I had no idea how to come back from this. The first few days I didn't know what to do. You know, my family, my friends, kept me going, kept things pretty light around me, which was quite helpful. "It wasn't easy to digest, but life moves on. You have to move on in life. But, honestly, it was tough. It was not so easy to just move on.," Rohit said in the video shared by his official team on Instagram.

The World Cup, especially the 50-over format, has always held a special place in Rohit's heart. "I have always grown up watching 50-over World Cup, and to me that was the ultimate prize. We have worked all these years for that World Cup… and it is disappointing, right? If you don't get through it, and you don't get what you want, what you've been looking for all this while, what you were dreaming of, you get disappointed, and you get frustrated as well at times,” Rohit added.

Upon reflecting on the loss, Rohit acknowledged the team's efforts and expressed that while one can have a near-perfect game, achieving a perfect game is elusive.

"I thought we did everything we could from our side. If someone asks me, what went wrong… because we won ten games, and in those ten games, yes, we made mistakes, but that mistake happens in every game that you play. You cannot have a perfect game. You can have a near-perfect game. But you cannot have a perfect game," Rohit said. 

Despite the disappointment, Rohit expressed pride in the team's outstanding performance throughout the tournament.

"If I look on the other side of it, I'm really proud of the team as well. Because how we played was simply outstanding. You don't get to perform like that every World Cup. And I am pretty sure I am, at least, how we played up until that final, it would have given people a lot of joy, a lot of pride watching the team play."

Following the final, Rohit felt the need to distance himself from the cricketing world to come to terms with the outcome.

"After the final, it was very hard to get back and start moving on, which is why I decided that I need to go somewhere and just get my mind out of this. But then, wherever I was, I realized that people were coming up to me and they were appreciating everyone's effort, and how well we played. I feel for all of them. They all, along with us, they were dreaming of lifting that World Cup, along with us."

People telling me that they were proud of the team made me feel really good: Rohit Sharma

According to Rohit, the outpouring of love and understanding from fans served as a healing balm for him. However, he also expressed deep disappointment that India were not able to go all the way.

"Everywhere we went during this entire World Cup campaign, there was so much support from everyone, who came to the stadium firstly, and people who were watching it from home as well. I want to appreciate what the people have done for us, in that one-and-a-half months. But again, if I think more and more about that I feel quite disappointed that we were not able to go through all the way.

"For me to see, you know, people coming up to me, telling me that they were proud of the team, you know made me feel really good to a certain extent. And along with them, I was healing as well. I felt, okay these are the kind of things you want to hear. When you meet people, when they understand what the player must be going through and when they know this kind of things… and not to bring out that frustration, that anger, it means a lot for us, me definitely it meant a lot because there was no anger, it was just pure love from people that I met and it was wonderful to see that. So it gives you motivation to get back and start working again and look for another ultimate prize,” Rohit concluded.