Rohit Sharma wants to bring back his 2019 World Cup form | Asia Cup 2023

Rohit Sharma understands the gargantuan pressure that a home World Cup brings but the Indian captain wants to insulate himself from the outside chatter as he embarks on an arduous journey to win the country's first ICC trophy in a decade.

Shouldering more than a billion hopes, the 36-year-old India skipper knows what's at stake in the ODI World Cup, which starts October 5 with England taking on New Zealand in Ahmedabad.

"For me, it is important how I keep myself relaxed and not worry about external factors that play a role, whether positively or not negatively. I want to shut out everything," Rohit told PTI in an exclusive interview just before joining the Asia Cup camp in Bengaluru.

"I want to get into the phase I was in before the 2019 World Cup,” said Rohit, who carries an aura of Zen even in the most tense of situations.

"I was in a great frame of mind and prepared really well for the tournament," he said referring to the last edition, where he scored 648 runs with an unprecedented five hundreds to emerge as the highest run-getter.

"I was in good shape, good mindset. I want to bring that back and I have time to do that. Trying to recollect what were the right things that I was doing before the 2019 World Cup as a cricketer and as a person. I want to revisit that thought process of mine personally," the skipper said.

World Cups and the vagaries associated with the results can change a lot of things but for Rohit, one month of cricket can't make or break the player that he is.

"A person can't change overnight with his success or failures," he said.

"I don't think one result or one championship can change me as a person. I have not changed as a person in the last 16 years and I don't think anything needs to change on that front," he said.

"The focus will be on how I can achieve my goals in the next two months, for me and my team. A person can't change in a period of one or two months." Rohit has won five IPL titles as Mumbai Indians captain, Asia Cup as India captain (2018) and led the team to the World Test Championship final as recently as June this year.

Talking about team selection and captaincy, Rohit feels that he "needs to keep an open mind" and listen to everyone's view and what other people around him are thinking.

"It's not like, I don't like this person, so I am dropping him. Captaincy is not based on personal likes and dislikes. If anyone misses out, there is a reason for it. If you are the unlucky one, we can do nothing.