Following the team’s second T20 World Cup victory, two of India’s best cricketers of all time, Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, announced their retirements from the T20I format on Saturday. India captain Rohit Sharma made the announcement during the official press conference following the match, while Virat Kohli made the announcement minutes after the historic victory. Rohit, who was instrumental in India’s victorious effort, declared that he would keep playing for the country in Tests and ODIs.
Rohit said, “This was my last (T20) 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.”
“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.” the Indian captain added.
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His retirement brings an end to an incredible T20I career in which he amassed 4231 runs in 159 outings to become the format’s greatest scorer. Having scored five hundreds in T20 internationals, he also holds the record for most centuries. He was instrumental in India’s inaugural T20 World Cup win in 2007, which also launched his T20I career. Now, he has solidified his legendary status by captaining India to their second T20 World Cup victory. Having led India to their second victory as captain, he has further solidified his status.
Virat Kohli’s retirement from international cricket:
Rohit Sharma chose to announce his retirement during the post-match press conference, whereas his opening partner, Virat Kohli, made his farewell to the format during the Player of the Match presentation on Saturday. Kohli mentioned that it was an “open secret” he would retire from T20 cricket after the World Cup, and he would have done so regardless of whether India won the T20 World Cup or not.
“This was an open secret, it was not something that I was not going to announce if we’d lost… This was going to be my last T20 World Cup playing for India, it’s time for the next generation to take over. Two-year cycle, there are some amazing players playing in India, they’re going to take the team forward in the T20 format, and do wonders as we’ve seen them do in the IPL. I’ve no doubts they’ll keep the flag waving high, and really take this team further from here now.” Virat said.
News – Simran
