Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli announce retirement from T20 internationals

Indian cricket team captain Rohit Sharma and talismanic batter Virat Kohli announced their retirements from T2os after helping India win their second ICC T20 World Cup title in Barbados on Saturday.

Rohit led from the front with his astute captaincy and whirlwind batting while Kohli came good when it mattered to score a match-winning half century in the final as India beat South Africa by seven runs to win the T20 World Cup.

Both Indian cricket legends bow out on a high.

Rohit, who was in good form throughout the tournament, couldn’t make it count in the final while Kohli anchored the Indian innings with 59-ball 76 to help India score 176/7 in their 20 overs.

Later, the bowlers, led by Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya restricted South Africa to just 169/8 in their 20 overs.

Kohli, who was awarded the player-of-the-match for his knock broke the news that the World Cup final was his last match for India in the T20 format. “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. It is just the occasion, now or never kind of situation. This was my last T20 game playing for India. We wanted to lift that cup,” he said after the match.

Kohli said it was time for the next generation to take the T20 format forward. “Yes, this (the retirement) was an open secret. It is time for the next generation to take the T20 game forward,” he added.

The former Indian captain said the skipper deserved a win. “It’s been a long wait for us, waiting to win an ICC tournament. You look at someone like Rohit, he’s played nine T20 World Cups and this is my sixth. He deserves it. I think it’s going to sink in later. It’s an amazing day and I’m thankful,” he added.

Meanwhile, Rohit also confirmed that he played his last international T20 cricket. He, however, said he would continue playing the ODI and Test matches. “This was my last game as well. No better time to say goodbye. I wanted this (trophy) badly. It’s very hard to put in words,” Rohit told the media after the match.

Rohit played 159 T20Is and scored 4,231 runs at a strike rate of 140.89 and an average of 32.05. He led India in 62 T20 matches and scored 1,905 runs at a strike rate of 149.76 and an average of 34.01, winning 49 matches.