Of 16 captains who lined up on stage in Melbourne’s Plaza Ballroom on the eve of the Twenty20 World Cup, only one had also been present at the first edition 15 years before.
In 2007, Rohit Sharma was one of numerous young Indian hopefuls chosen in a team the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) reluctantly sent to South Africa for the event. By accident of fortune, India would go on to win it, thus supercharging T20 in the eyes of the game’s biggest nation.
Indian skipper Rohit Sharma is trying to win his country’s first T20 World Cup since the inaugural event in 2007.Credit:AP
Recalling those as he enters the Cup campaign as India’s 35-year-old captain, Rohit said that inaugural event had opened up his eyes as well as many others.
“It’s been a long time since 2007. When I was picked for that World Cup I literally didn’t go with any expectations about myself, nor the team,” Rohit said. “I just wanted to enjoy and play the tournament because that was my first-ever World Cup, so I had no understanding of what it is like to be part of it and how big it is going to be – until we won the World Cup.
“From there until now it’s been a long journey. The game has evolved so much that you can see how it’s being played now compared to 2007 – 140 or 150 was a good score back then, and now people try to get that score in 14-15 overs.”
Higher scoring and greater boldness from batting sides have been hallmarks of T20’s development, in parallel with its now enormous financial stake in the game.
Most of the tournament’s most accomplished performers over the next month have embossed their credentials via franchise tournaments in general and the Indian Premier League in particular.
“The teams have become more fearless,” Rohit said. “They have started to take a lot of risk without worrying about the result, which I think is a good way to play this kind of format. It is something that our team is also trying to do because this is the kind of format where there is risk, but there’s higher rewards as well.
“So you’ve got to be brave enough to take those risks and certainly we’ll be prepared to do that as well. That’s my understanding from 2007 to 2022, a lot of things have changed, but it’s been a good one, to see the game evolve in all these years.”
Alongside Rohit sat South Africa’s Temba Bavuma. While the Proteas have a proud record in Australia across all formats, recent results have not suggested good things. To compete, they will need to conjure the aforementioned fearlessness.
“I think the guys are in good spirits, we’ve just come from India where we didn’t have the best of series,” Bavuma said. “But there’s still a lot of confidence that we can take pride in the performances we’ve put together as a team.
“So it’s not all doom and gloom for us, we’re excited and looking forward to this tournament and how far we can go. Probably not a lot of expectation around us as a team again, so for us we’ll be flying under the radar.”
