Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma announced their retirement from T20I cricket following the Men in Blue’s victory in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 in the Caribbean. The Indian cricket team secured a seven-run win over South Africa in a thrilling match in Barbados on June 29, ending their 11-year ICC trophy drought.
Virat Kohli played a match-winning knock of 76 runs to help the team reach a competitive total. The former Indian skipper Virat Kohli was named “Player of the Match” for his batting performance. Meanwhile, Rohit Sharma became the third Indian captain after Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni to guide the Indian cricket team to a World Cup victory.
Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma announced retirements from T20 cricket
Within minutes of India lifting the T20 World Cup in Bridgetown on Saturday afternoon, Virat Kohli stated his intention to quit Twenty20 Internationals. An hour or so later, his skipper Rohit Sharma followed suit, almost forced to reveal his hand following a specific query at the post-match press conference. A while later, Ravindra Jadeja joined the two stalwarts in the list of former T20 Internationals, taking to social media to break the news.
None of these retirements is a surprise. Rohit has just turned 37, Virat Kohli will be 36 in November and Jadeja is five and a half months short of his 36th birthday. Each has spent at least a decade and a half representing the country, all are certainties in the other two international formats. A World Cup winner’s medal around their necks means there is nothing more left for them to achieve for the country in T20s. That, allied with the fact that a younger bunch is ready to take over, contributed in no small measure to their calls.
Following India’s victory in the 2024 T20 World Cup final, both Rohit and Kohli confirmed that the match in Barbados against South Africa was their last T20I for Team India.
Rohit and Kohli are the top two run-getters in the T20I format. Rohit ends his career with 4231 runs in 151 innings at a strike rate of 140.89, with five hundreds and fifties. Kohli, meanwhile, amassed 4188 runs in 117 innings at a strike rate of 137.04, with one hundred and 38 half-centuries.
Next assignment for Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli
Certainly T20 franchise cricket, from all indications. There is no sign yet that they are walking away from the 20-over game in its entirety, so their fans still have plenty to look forward to in that regard. But they also have lots to contribute to the national team, given their pre-eminence in both Tests and One-Day Internationals.
India have a crammed 12 and a few months ahead of them, marked by two long and arduous away Test series bookending the 50-over Champions Trophy, tentatively scheduled for February-March, 2025.
India’s next Test assignment is at home against Bangladesh, those two Tests followed by three more against New Zealand before they embark for Australia and five Tests, seeking a hat-trick of series wins Down Under. If they make it to a third successive World Test Championship final in the summer, that will be followed by five Tests in England, where India haven’t clinched a series since 2007.
For Rohit, both as rejuvenated Test opener and captain, therefore, there is so much to target. The T20 World Cup triumph has erased some of the huge disappointment of not going all the way at the 50-over home World Cup last year, but the Champions Trophy is a big carrot dangled in front of him, and the promise of a maiden WTC crown is alluring.
His bat is smoking hot at the moment and he will look to maximize the time left at his disposal internationally while also being grateful, like Virat Kohli, that he can also devote greater attention to a young family.
Virat Kohli’s standing as the best batter of his generation has taken a little bit of a hit, though within the Indian framework, his continues to be the wicket most coveted by the oppositions. He is at that stage of his cricketing life where individual milestones don’t hold the same significance as they once used to, or when compared to collective success, as a unit.
His legacy, like that of Rohit’s, is already firmly established, but he has the enthusiasm, the energy and the hunger to do more, to prepare the next generation for life without Rohit and himself. His intensity is infectious and he continues to be a role model when it comes to fitness and work ethics. He might be done with T20Is, but Virat Kohli isn’t done with cricket. Nor is cricket with Kohli, whose contribution to Indian cricket already far outweighs the scary volume of runs and hundreds.
Kapil Dev Praises Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma after T20 2024 World Cup triumph
Former Indian captain and all-rounder Kapil Dev heaped praise on Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma for their contributions to the national cricket team across all three formats. Kapil Dev stated that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma have been huge servants of Indian cricket, describing them as irreplaceable in Indian cricket.
Speaking on the sidelines of the Trinity Golf Championship League second edition curtain-raiser event, Kapil Dev stated that no one can replace Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma in any format. Kapil likened their impact to that of Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni.
“No one can take Virat and Rohit’s place in the Indian team in any format. They have been a huge servant of Indian cricket, and it was a happy farewell for them. The stature that Virat has made of himself in all formats, he will surely be missed in T20Is. Both are the same as Sachin Tendulkar and MS Dhoni. They are irreplaceable,” Kapil was quoted as saying by IANS.
Virat Kohli made his T20I debut against Zimbabwe in June 2010. Kohli scored 4,188 runs in 125 T20Is at an average of 48.7 and a strike rate of 137.04, including one century and 38 half-centuries. He won all major ICC white-ball tournaments, including the ODI World Cup, Champions Trophy, and T20 World Cup.
Rohit Sharma started his career with the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007. He concluded his T20I career as the highest run-scorer in the format. He scored 4,231 runs in 159 matches at an average of 31.34 and a strike rate of 140.89. The right-handed batter (5) holds the record for the most centuries in T20Is.
The former MI skipper played a crucial role in India’s first T20 World Cup win in 2007. He led the team to their second title as captain. He is the only Indian to win two T20 World Cup titles. He holds records as the most-capped T20I player.
Rohit may return for India in the three-match ODI series against Sri Lanka next month in Colombo. The BCCI will announce the squad for this series on Thursday, July 18, including India’s permanent T20I captain. Hardik Pandya and Suryakumar Yadav are in the race to replace Rohit as skipper of the Indian T20I team.