United States: India’s cricket legends Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have retired from T20 internationals after their World Cup victory in Barbados.
After the thrilling seven-run victory over South Africa, Rohit became the first captain of India to win a World Cup since 2011. Kohli was named man of the match for his 76. The top two players on the all-time list of T20 international run scorers are 37-year-old Rohit and 35-year-old Kohli.
“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 and say thank you,” said Rohit.
On former captain Kohli, Rohit said that, “He’s been a champion player without a doubt. We all know what he has done for us. At some point everyone has to say goodbye to the game and Virat was very clear that this is what he wanted to do.”
Both men will still be available for one-day internationals and Test matches against India. After scoring just 75 runs in seven innings during the World Cup, Kohli’s crucial knock in the championship game helped India win 176-7.
With just 30 runs needed in the last five overs, South Africa withered under some excellent bowling from India, and the match was effectively sealed by Suryakumar Yadav’s match-winning catch to dismiss David Miller in the 20th over.
With 4,188 runs from 125 T20 internationals, Kohli finishes only below Rohit’s 4,231 total. With 159 caps, Rohit holds the record for most caps of any player. He also shares a record of five centuries with Glenn Maxwell of Australia.
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