Retirement of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma from T20Is after India's World Cup Win 2024

"This was my last [T20I] game as well. No better time to say goodbye to this format. 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," said Rohit Sharma. "I wanted this badly. Very hard to put in words. It was a very emotional moment for me. I was very desperate for this title in my life. Happy that we eventually crossed the line."

Rohit, who debuted in T20Is in the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007, played 159 matches for India, scoring 4231 runs, becoming the highest run-scorer for his country in the format. He notched five centuries, including a best of 121 not out against Afghanistan earlier in the year, along with 32 half-centuries. Rohit also departed as the most successful T20I captain, boasting 50 wins, two more than Pakistan's Babar Azam.

Reflecting on his retirement, Kohli expressed, "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."

Confirming his retirement from T20Is, Kohli added, "Yes I have [announced my retirement from T20Is], this was an open secret. It was not something that I wasn't going to announce even if we had lost. It's 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 [Sharma], he's played nine T20 World Cups and this is my sixth. He deserves it."

Kohli, debuting in T20Is in June 2010, played 125 games for India in the format, amassing 4188 runs, featuring one century and 38 half-centuries. He secured two Player of the Tournament awards in the T20 World Cups of 2014 and 2016, finishing as the second-highest run-getter in T20Is behind Rohit Sharma.