T20 World Cup: Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have both retired from T20Is.© AFP
India skipper Rohit Sharma announced his retirement from T20 Internationals after guiding the team to its second World Cup in the format, describing it as the perfect time to “say goodbye”. This was after his long-time teammate Virat Kohli brought down curtains on his fabled career minutes after India defeated South Africa by seven runs at the Kensington Oval in the final.
“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 post-match press conference. “This what I wanted and it happened. I was very desperate for this in my life. Happy that we crossed the line this time,” he added.
The 37-year-old had led India in the 2022 T20 World Cup where the team was ousted in the semifinals by eventual champions England.
A year later, India reached the final of the 50-over World Cup at home under his leadership, but succumbed to Australia in the summit clash at Ahmedabad.
Rohit leaves T20Is with 4231 runs from 159 matches, having made five hundreds and 32 fifties. He continues to be active in the Test and ODI formats.
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