Mumbai, November 25
Former India skipper Rohit Sharma, who captained reigning champions India to glory at the previous Men's T20 World Cup in 2024, has been announced as the tournament ambassador for the 2026 edition to be held in India and Sri Lanka, as per the official website of the International Cricket Council (ICC).
"It's my honour to announce that @ImRo45 is the tournament ambassador for the upcoming @T20WorldCup in India & Sri Lanka. There can be no better representative for the event than the winning captain of the 2024 T20 World Cup, and a player who has been in all nine editions so far," ICC Chair Jay Shah said on in a post on X.
Rohit was prolific for India in T20Is, finishing with 4231 runs at an average of 32.01 and a strike-rate of 140.89.
He is one of the few players to have been part of two successful Men's T20 World Cup campaigns, the first of which came in the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2007, while the latter came in the latest edition of the tournament in 2024.
In the 2007 campaign, which was also Rohit's debut in the format, the batter had a sensational run, hitting 88 runs without being dismissed, including crucial knocks in the Super Eights phase versus South Africa (50*) and in the final versus Pakistan (30*).
The 2024 campaign was even more special, where Rohit captained India to the elusive title.
He led by example and was prolific with the bat, being India's highest run-getter with 257 runs at a strike-rate of 156.70.
His quickfire starts gave the Team in Blue an early advantage at the start of the innings. His standout performances came in the Super Eights against Australia (92 off 41) and the semi-final versus England (57 off 39).
He announced his retirement from the shortest format following India's triumph at the 2024 T20 World Cup, which broke the 11-year drought of ICC trophies for the senior Men's side.
Speaking about being named the tournament ambassador, Rohit said, "I wish all the players the very best and hope they have a memorable time and enjoy India's hospitality while taking back a lot of memories."
"I wish all the players the very best and hope they have a memorable time and enjoy India's hospitality while taking back a lot of memories," he said.
The ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2026 will be played from February 7 to March 8, 2026.
- ANI
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