Team India won the last ODI World Cup in 2011, when MS Dhoni led the country to win only their second tournament after a long wait of 28 years. With that win, India became the first team to win the World Cup at home.
India is still waiting to replicate that performance. The upcoming ODI World Cup is all set to take place in India, and the hosts are the top favorites to win the tournament. Rohit Sharma will lead the team and will hope to do what Dhoni did in 2011.
Notably, Rohit was part of the 2007 T20 World Cup winning team but wasn’t considered in 2011. But former Indian selector Raja Venkat made a shocking revelation: Rohit was in the scheme of things to be selected in the team, but it was MS Dhoni who asked to pick Piyush Chawla in place of Rohit.
In a discussion on RevSportz, Venkat even said that then head coach Gary Kirsten was comfortable selecting Rohit for the 15-member squad. But at the last moment, the captain asked for Piyush’s inclusion because he wanted a leg-spinner.
Venkat said, “When we sat down to select the team, Rohit was very much in the scheme of things. We suggested the name of Rohit Sharma. Gary Kirsten felt it was a perfect selection, but again, the captain wanted a change there. He wanted Piyush Chawla instead of Rohit Sharma.”
However, the leg-spinner only played two games against England and Netherlands in the 2011 World Cup. He took two wickets and never played an ODI game again. Furthermore, Venkat also said that they didn’t even get a chance to talk to Rohit again after he was dropped.
However, time has changed since then, and Rohit will be leading the team in the upcoming World Cup at home. He was also the highest run-getter in the 2019 edition, which took place in England. India will open their World Cup campaign on October 8 with a game against Australia.
