The fan-edited image of Virat Kohli holding the T20 World Cup 2024 trophy with his father.© Instagram
A fan-edited photograph showing Virat Kohli lifting the 2024 T20 World Cup title alongside his father has gone viral on social media. Kohli’s father, Prem Nath, passed away in late 2006 after a cerebral attack. The Indian legend has often credited his father for being the driving force and inspiration during his early cricketing years. Now, as Kohli lifted only his third major ICC trophy – and his first-ever T20 World Cup – the heartwarming photoshopped image sent fans on X into a frenzy.
Created by a user named ‘ind_cyborg’ on Instagram, the video shows a picture of Kohli’s father being edited beside him as he’s lifting the T20 World Cup trophy.
Fans of Kohli and the Indian cricket team lapped up the video, with several tagging Kohli and his wife Anushka Sharma, hoping for the star to see the edit.
OMGGG @imVkohli should def see this one! https://t.co/nmCThi45Vl
— F. (@FlaviaNagpal) July 2, 2024
After a disappointing run of form, Kohli top-scored with a 59-ball 76 and won the ‘Player of the Match’ in the Final, as India dramatically beat South Africa by seven runs. Struggling at 34/3, Kohli anchored the Indian batting and guided the team to a good total of 171 in 20 overs.
After the game, Kohli announced his retirement from T20I cricket. He amassed 4,188 runs in 117 innings, at an astonishing average of 48.69 in the shortest format.
Kohli will still likely continue to play the IPL, where he is expected to be retained by Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
“This was an open secret (retirement). Not something that I wasn’t going to announce even if we had lost. Time for the next generation to take the T20 game forward,” Kohli confirmed when asked by Harsha Bhogle if he was making the official announcement about him calling it a day, during the presentation ceremony of the final.
India lifted their second T20 World Cup title on June 29.
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