On June 29, 2024, Rohit Sharma led India to one of their most famous wins in their history as India clinched the T20 World Cup from the jaws of defeat against South Africa at the Kensington Oval, Barbados.
The Proteas once needed 30 off 30 with Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller still batting, and the nerves were at their peak while India and South Africa wanted to end their 11 and 26-year waits for the ICC trophies, respectively.
However, this is not when the nervousness around the match began — it was long before, on the previous night, where the Indian skipper started to feel anxious about the game, as he recently revealed.
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Check out what Sharma had to say about the pre-final nerves in the T20 World Cup 2024.
The whole night, I didn't sleep, reveals Rohit Sharma
While speaking with Star Sports about what went on inside the Indian captain ahead of the final at Barbados, Sharma revealed that he was unable to sleep with the only thing on his mind being the final.
"13 years is a lot of time. People don't have a career of 13 years. So, to wait for that long to win the World Cup, the last World Cup that I won was in 2007. For me, it couldn't have gotten any bigger than that, in my mind," said Sharma.
"The whole night, I didn't sleep. I was only thinking about the World Cup. Nervousness. I couldn't feel my legs waking up," he added.
He further spoke about the anticipation that went into the build-up to the final on that day and how he just stood in front of his room's window — thinking about where the trophy would be and how his routine went with anxiousness.
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"I don't show my nervousness, but it was inside me. In the morning, I think we were supposed to leave at 8:30-9. In the morning, I woke up at seven or something. In the morning, you're feeling that the match is about to start."
"I can see the ground in front of my room. Then I was just watching that. I'm like, okay, in the next two hours, I'll be there. I don't know what is going to happen after four hours. After four hours, the result must have come. Either the cup will be here or there," he concluded.
This win was even special for the Indian captain on a personal level as he had missed out on the 2011 World Cup squad that India subsequently won and India had lost 8 knockout fixtures since the time they had last touched an ICC trophy in 2013 with Sharma being a part of everything.