Virat Kohli announced his T20I retirement in the post-match presentation after India became the T20 World champions after defeating South Africa in the final of the T20 World Cup 2024 in Barbados on June 29.
India captain Rohit Sharma won the toss and chose to bat first. However, Rohit himself got out early after scoring 9 runs. Though Virat Kohli anchored one end, India lost Rishabh Pant (0) and Suryakumar Yadav (3) early as well.
But Kohli with Akshar Patel (47 with 4 sixes and 1 four) added 72 runs for the 4th wicket. Kohli continued and scored 76 in 59 balls with 6 fours and 2 sixes as India posted 176/7 in 20 overs.
Keshav Maharaj and Anrich Nortje picked two wickets each.
In reply, Quinton de Kock (39) stood like a rock while South Africa lost quick wickets. Tristan Stubbs (31), and Heinrich Klaasen (52) brought South Africa back into the game and then Klaasen hammered Akshar Patel for 24 runs in the 15th over.
But then Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, and Arshdeep Singh bowled beautifully to choke the South African batters and, in the end, India ended up victors by 7 runs. Hardik Pandya picked 3/20, while Arshdeep Singh and Jasprit Bumrah took 2 wickets each.
In the post-match presentation, Virat Kohli was named the Player of the Match and during the conversation, he announced his T20I retirement as well.
He said: “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. Just the occasion, now or never kind of situation. This was my last T20 game playing for India. We wanted to lift that cup. Wanted to Yes I have, this was an open secret. 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. It's been a long wait for us, waiting to win an ICC tournament. You look at someone like Rohit, he's played 9 T20 World Cups and this is my sixth. He deserves it. It's been difficult to hold things (emotions) back and I think it's going to sink in later. It's an amazing day and I'm thankful."
