'The motive, thought process is to win but…': Rohit Sharma's blunt take on India's World Cup title drought

In 2011, when MS Dhoni's Team India created history by becoming the first to win the World Cup at home, the current India captain Rohit Sharma was not part of the squad.

It has been 11 years since India last won the World Cup, and more importantly, nine years since they last won an ICC title. Surprisingly enough, in 2011, when MS Dhoni's Team India created history by becoming the first team to win the World Cup at home, the current India captain was not part of the squad. Rohit Sharma, who was already four years into international cricket by then, was grappling form and fitness issues, because of which he could not become part of India's humongous triumph. However, for Rohit, this is the time to set the record straight. At 35, Rohit is in the last leg of his career, and this World Cup and the next in India are likely his two final shots at becoming a world champion again.

Rohit Sharma opened up on what India need to do to cope with the pressure of a World Cup(Getty Images)

Again, because Rohit was part of the Indian team that won the T20 World Cup in 2007. In fact, Rohit and Dinesh Karthik are the only two players from that unit who are part of the current squad, and what better way for the India captain's career to come full circle than the sight of lifting the World Cup with his teammates on November 13 at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground. Ahead of India's blockbuster World Cup opener against Pakistan, Rohit admitted that India have waited for a long time to win a World Cup title but at the same time pointed out how the team cannot afford to get carried away by the big occasion.

"It's been a while since we have won the World Cup. Obviously. the motive and the whole thought process to win it but we know we need to do a lot of things right to get there so once step at a time for us. We can't think too far ahead. You can't really think about semis or final from now onwards. You need to focus on each time that you're going to come again and prepare for that. Our focus will be on that and to make sure that we move in the right direction," Rohit said in a video uploaded by BCCI.

"It's a big honour to captain. This is my first World Cup as captain so I'm pretty excited. It also gives us a great opportunity to come here and do something special. Every time you come for the World Cup, it's a great feeling. The boys are pumped up, we had a great couple of practice matches in Perth. World Cup is a big event but at the same time, we have made a constant practice of not talking too much about it because it's important to be in the present and think about what you need to do on that particular day. And that will allow us to execute what we want to do."

India enter the World Cup on the back of some stunning form. They won a series win England and the disappointment of the Asia Cup notwithstanding, gained some much-needed momentum by registering series wins over Australia and South Africa at home. In fact, India have played the maximum T20Is this year and created a world record by winning the most (23) in a year. The Men in Blue arrived in Australia way before others, with Rohit explaining why.

"We have come from two wins but that was at home obviously. Australia will be a different challenge. It was important for us to get used to the conditions. Few of the guys haven not come to Australia before so we wanted to come here earlier and get used to it. They will be challenging and as far as I am concerned, when I look at the whole group, like I said, they are pretty excited," added the India captain.