Stalwart players of team India, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma announced retirement from T20 format after the quest for the coveted trophy ended on Saturday night following a spectacular seven run heist against South Africa in the nerve wracking world cup finale held in Barbados. Indian bowlers pulled the rabbit out of the hat when the African batsman appeared to have sealed the match with a thumping counterattack and ended the long wait for the elusive title.
Kohli announced it after he was awarded the Player of the Match for his 59-ball 76 in his last T20I which helped India lift its second World T20 title while Rohit Sharma confirmed his decision in the press conference afterwards.
Kohli said “This was my last T20 World Cup, this is exactly what we wanted to achieve. 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”.
“This was my last [T20I] game as well. 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,” said Rohit Sharma. “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”, said Rohit Sharma.
Kohli made his T20I debut in June 2010 amd featured in 125 games for India in the format He scored 4188 runs, which included one century and 38 half-centuries. He won two Player of the Tournament awards in the T20 World Cups of 2014 and 2016.
Rohit, who made his T20I debut in the inaugural T20 World Cup, against England in Durban in 2007, played 159 matches for India, scoring 4231 runs to end his career as the highest run-getter in the format for his country. He scored five hundreds, including a career-best 121 not out against Afghanistan earlier this year, to go with his 32 half-centuries. He also ended his career as the most successful T20I captain, with 50 wins (including Super Over/bowl-out victories), two more than Pakistan’s Babar Azam.
