‘I feel bad for him even today’ – Kris Srikkanth reveals reason why Rohit Sharma missed out on 2011 World Cup

Kris Srikkanth and Rohit Sharma (Source: Kris Srikkanth/X and BCCI)

Former India batter and selector Krishnamachari Srikkanth has revealed the reason why star batter Rohit Sharma missed out on a place for the 2011 ICC World Cup, which the Men in Blue ended up winning.

Srikkanth stated that the thought process behind not picking Rohit was that the selectors prioritised having a plethora of all-rounders in the side, just like how they did during the successful 1983 World Cup campaign.

In opting for batters who can offer something with the ball, the right-handed batter missed out on the squad, for which Srikkanth is still apologetic. He did, however, claim that Rohit was good enough to feature in the World Cup.

“In every interview, he says, I missed the 2011 World Cup. I feel bad for him even today. I told Rohit last year, I’m sorry, boss. It’s not by purpose, but it’s just that we want to take those half all-rounders. Our thought process was similar to that of the 1983 World Cup. And at the end of the day, who was the Player of the Tournament? Yuvraj Singh, with the ball and bat. In some matches, Sehwag, Sachin and Suresh Raina would have bowled a few overs. Even Yusuf Pathan is a half all-rounder,” Srikkanth said on his YouTube channel.

“So in all these things, unfortunately, what happened, this half all-rounder concept, Rohit Sharma got, poor fellow, he could not find a place. He was actually good enough to play in the 2011 World Cup, but poor boy missed out,” he added.

India’s tactics of going with an all-rounder-heavy squad did come to fruition with Yuvraj Singh winning the Player of the Tournament award. The left-hander contributed 362 runs and 15 wickets to help India win their second World Cup.

Rohit, on the other hand, would go on to carve his own legacy in ICC tournaments. The Mumbai Indians star captained India to the 2024 T20 World Cup and 2025 Champions Trophy wins.

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