Former India wicketkeeper-batter Robin Uthappa has opened up about how the omission of Rohit Sharma from the 2011 World Cup-winning squad impacted his career. Robin Uthappa stated that Rohit Sharma was the same person before and after the omission, but it channeled his focus and determination.

Rohit Sharma made his white-ball debut in 2007 and was part of the T20 World Cup-winning campaign that year. However, he was left out of the 2011 World Cup squad after a series of underwhelming performances. Players like Suresh Raina and Yusuf Pathan were selected over him for the home World Cup.

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Rohit Sharma Not Part of India’s 2011 ODI World Cup Winning Campaign

Rohit Sharma’s form in 2010 was disappointing, as he managed only 586 runs in 14 matches, with an average of 38.8. This led to his exclusion from the 2011 Cricket World Cup squad due to a series of underperformances.

However, today, Rohit is a completely transformed player. He plays a key role for Team India, especially as an opener. The batter led India to victories in the T20 World Cup 2024 and the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Rohit also came close to winning his first ODI World Cup in 2023 but lost to Australia in the final.

He Was a Lot More Channelized with His Focus – Robin Uthappa

Speaking on Star Sports, Robin Uthappa spoke about how Rohit Sharma’s exclusion from the 2011 World Cup squad had an impact on his career. Uthappa shared that Rohit became more channeled in his approach.

“When you listen to his interviews and what he says about his journey in international cricket, you know, you tend to look at it from the outside and one gets the feeling like that 2011 omission from that World Cup squad had a huge impact on him because even before that he was the same person, but post that, he’s still the same person but he was a lot more, you know, channelized with his focus,” Uthappa said.

He Was Not Going to Take a Single Thing for Granted – Robin Uthappa

Robin Uthappa said that Rohit Sharma worked hard and remained unfazed by challenges. Uthappa mentioned that the experience motivated Rohit to do everything necessary to ensure success and avoid feeling left out again.

“He knew he was not going to take a single thing in his cricketing career for granted and you could tell that he put in the work, he put in the efforts and so he was always unfazed by big names or big occasions or big opportunities, right?

“I think that omission from that 2011 kind of really channelized his focus in saying, I know this is what I want to do, I don’t ever feel this again so I’m going to do everything that it takes to make sure that everything falls in line for me and at least that’s what I feel from the outside,” Uthappa concluded.

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