Brothers of destruction Virat Kohli & Rohit Sharma announce T20I retirement after T20 World Cup 2024 final win
In a stunning finale to the 2024 Men's T20 World Cup, India emerged victorious over South Africa by seven runs, securing their second World T20 title at Kensington Oval, Barbados. This victory was especially momentous as it marked the end of Virat Kohli's illustrious T20I career. Kohli, who played a crucial role in the match, was named Player of the Match for his brilliant 59-ball 76, a fitting end to his T20 journey.
"This was my last T20 World Cup, this is exactly what we wanted to achieve," Kohli said during the post-match presentation. "One day you feel like you can't get a run and this happens, God is great. Just the occasion, now or never kind of situation. This was my last T20 game playing for India. We wanted to lift that cup."??
Kohli confirmed his retirement from T20Is, stating, "Yes I have (announced my retirement from T20Is), this was an open secret. It was not something that I wasn't going to announce even if we had lost. It's time for the next generation to take the T20 game forward. It's been a long wait for us, waiting to win an ICC tournament. You look at someone like Rohit, he's played 9 T20 World Cups and this is my sixth. He deserves it."
?Kohli's T20I career, which began in June 2010, spanned 125 matches in which he scored 4188 runs, including one century and 38 half-centuries. He retires as the second-highest run-scorer in T20Is, trailing only Rohit Sharma.??
Subsequently, Rohit Sharma joined Virat Kohli in retiring from T20 internationals, as the Indian skipper announced at the press conference after the final.??
?"This was my last [T20I] game as well," Rohit said. "No better time to say goodbye to this format. I've loved every moment of this. I started my India career playing this format. This is what I wanted, I wanted to win the cup."I wanted this badly. Very hard to put in words. It was a very emotional moment for me. I was very desperate for this title in my life. Happy that we eventually crossed the line."?
Rohit Sharma leaves the T20I format as its highest scorer, amassing 4,231 runs in 159 matches, and holding the record for the most centuries (five) in T20 internationals. He has won two T20 World Cup titles: the inaugural one in 2007 as a player and now in 2024 as the captain.
In the 2024 tournament, Rohit finished as the second-highest run-scorer, with 257 runs at a strike rate of 156.70, despite challenging batting conditions in the USA and the West Indies. He played a crucial role in providing India with fast starts through his aggressive batting approach, scoring vital match-winning half-centuries in the last Super Eight game against Australia and the semi-final against England.
Rohit and Kohli's retirement from the T20I format was not entirely unexpected. Both players had not played any T20Is after India's semi-final defeat in the 2022 T20 World Cup semi-final, and only resumed playing T20Is in January this year - with the focus on the 2024 T20 World Cup.
The final match saw India set a competitive total of 176 for 7 in their 20 overs, thanks largely to Kohli's steadying innings and a crucial 72-run partnership with Axar Patel. Despite a rocky start with India at 34 for 3 in 4.3 overs,?
Kohli's resilience and Axar's aggressive 47 off 31 balls helped stabilize the innings. South Africa's Keshav Maharaj and Anrich Nortje were the pick of the bowlers, taking two wickets each while conceding 23 and 26 runs respectively.
South Africa, needing 30 runs off the last 30 balls with Heinrich Klaasen and David Miller at the crease, seemed poised to chase down the target. However, India managed a crucial breakthrough at the right moment to seal the victory, ending an 11-year wait for an ICC title.
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