In an emotional turn of events, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have announced their retirement from T20 internationals following India’s thrilling victory over South Africa in the T20 World Cup final in Barbados.
After the match, Rohit Sharma confirmed his decision at the press conference. “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.”
Rohit expressed his deep desire to win the title, stating, “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 leaves the T20I format as its highest scorer with 4,231 runs in 159 matches and holds the record for the most centuries (five) in T20 internationals. He has won two T20 World Cup titles: the inaugural one as a player in 2007 and now as captain in 2024.
The retirement of Rohit and Kohli from T20Is was not entirely unexpected. Both players had not played any T20Is after India’s semi-final defeat in the 2022 T20 World Cup and only resumed playing T20Is in January this year, focusing on the 2024 T20 World Cup.
Rohit finished the tournament as the second-highest run-scorer with 257 runs at a strike rate of 156.70, despite difficult batting conditions in the USA and the West Indies. He played a crucial role in giving India fast starts with his aggressive approach and scored match-winning half-centuries in their last Super Eight game against Australia and the semi-final against England.
