Retired from T20 Internationals: Kohli and Rohit
After winning the World Cup in Barbados, Indian legends Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma resigned from Twenty20 internationals.
After an exciting seven-run victory over South Africa, Kohli and Rohit became the first Indian skipper to win the World Cup since 2011.
Rohit, 37, and Kohli, 35, are the top two Twenty20 international run scorers to date.
Experiencing “every moment of this,” Rohit proclaimed. I began my career with India in this way. My wish has been granted. My goal was to show my appreciation by winning the cup.
When asked about former captain Virat Kohli, Rohit stated, “He’s been a brilliant player without a question…. His contributions to our cause are well-known.
India will still have both men at their disposal for one-day internationals and Tests.
Kohli had a tough World Cup, scoring 75 runs in seven innings until his last performance propelled India to 176-7.
South Africa needed only 30 runs from the final five overs, but they wilted in the face of some superb India death bowling, and Suryakumar Yadav’s all-time great catch to remove David Miller in the 20th over effectively sealed the match.
Clearly emotional on receiving his player-of-the-match award, Kohli said: “This is my last T20 game playing for India, my last World Cup I was going to play.
Kohli ends with 4,188 runs from 125 T20 internationals, just behind Rohit’s tally of 4,231. Rohit’s 159 caps is also the most for any man and his five centuries is also a record, shared with Australia’s Glenn Maxwell.
Since the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup in 2007, which India won, only Rohit and Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan have appeared in every tournament.
In 2011, India won the World Cup in the 50-over format, which was their last tournament victory overall.
They were defeated in two finals in the last year: one at The Oval in the World Test Championship last summer and another at Ahmedabad, their home ground, in the 50-over final in November, both by the same opponents.
According to Rohit, “I wanted this badly,” and the experience was overwhelming emotionally. Thanks to our successful crossing of the line, I finally got what I’ve been praying for.
Just thinking about how badly I wanted to win makes this seem like the most incredible time ever.
The runs I’ve scored over the years are important, but I’m not very concerned with statistics and everything. What I always look forward to is winning games and trophies for India.
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