Indian cricket star Rohit Sharma has revealed that India’s controversial exit from the 1996 ODI World Cup semifinal inspired him to pursue cricket and dream of winning a World Cup for the country. India faced Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Following a collapse by the Indian batting order, spectators threw bottles and rubbish onto the field, while parts of the seating were reportedly set on fire.
Match referee Clive Lloyd eventually abandoned the game amid the unrest and awarded Sri Lanka victory by default. Speaking on a show he hosts, Rohit recalled watching the incident when he was nine.
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“This was actually in 1996, when I was nine years old. The 1996 World Cup that we were playing in India, we lost in the semifinal against Sri Lanka. And it became quite controversial there,” Rohit Sharma said. “We got out, people started throwing things here and there, the match got stopped and Vinod Kambli ji cried. So I was nine years old and from then on I started playing cricket,” he added.
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Rohit explained that he had played cricket casually with his siblings before the tournament, but the incident encouraged him to take the sport more seriously. Growing up in Borivali, Mumbai, he became interested in the matches organised in his residential colony and wanted to compete.
Rohit also recalled the financial difficulties his family faced during childhood. He was raised by his grandfather after the family decided he would stay with him while his younger sibling remained with their parents.
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The 1996 semifinal became an important memory in Rohit’s journey, helping shape his ambition to make a mark in Indian cricket and one day contribute to a World Cup triumph.
