'Doesn’t matter if you score 600-700 runs and aren’t winning a trophy': Rohit Sharma

India's ODI and Test captain Rohit Sharma says that he always valued trophies over individual milestones, and the star opener also gave his example to point out that scoring a lot of runs has little value if the team doesn’t go on to win tournaments. The 37-year-old recalled his own incredible run during the 2019 ODI World Cup in England when he hit a record five centuries and a fifty to finish as the competition’s top run-scorer with 648 runs.

India were one of the favourites to win the title, but the Virat Kohli-led India lost the semifinal against New Zealand.

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“My target has never been to score a certain number of runs in a season," Rohit said in an interview on YouTube channel. “I want to win matches, and for that, I have always given my best. It doesn’t matter if you score 600-700 runs and aren’t winning a trophy. It (The runs) won’t matter."

“I have learned my lessons during the 2019 World Cup itself. If you aren’t able to reach final and win trophy then what will I do with those 500-600 runs? It might be good for me but not for the team," he added.

Rohit also cited the example of his IPL franchise Mumbai Indians. He said that no batter in MI’s history has won an Orange Cap whenever they’ve claimed an IPL trophy. MI are one of the most successful franchises in the history of IPL, winning five IPL trophies, which is the joint-most by any team.

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“But I am not claiming that my 30 runs are helping the team to win. My focus is on making contributions that benefit the team. Before I used to think I have to score runs (but not anymore). Whenever MI has won a trophy, nobody from our team has won the Orange Cap. There’s a reason behind that," he said.

Rohit is currently featuring for MI in the IPL 2025. After guiding MI to all their five IPL titles as captain, Rohit was succeeded by Hardik Pandya as captain last year.