Indian batting superstar Virat Kohli once again proved why he is hailed as the king of cricket. He once again stepped up, when his side was falling, and delivered a clutch performance in India’s T20 World Cup 2024 final match against South Africa at Kensington Oval in Barbados on Saturday, June 29.
Virat Kohli Played An Instrumental Role In India’s Win
Kohli came out to open the innings with Rohit Sharma, however, things didn’t go out as planned. India lost two quick wickets, but Kohli maintained his calm and notched up a fine half-century.
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He played an anchor innings, holding on to the innings and bringing the much-needed momentum back to the game. He 76 runs off 59 balls.
He played an instrumental role in India’s win as he took the total score of the team to 176/7 in 20 overs despite a dismal start. His knock was laced with 6 fours and 2 sixes.
Meanwhile, following India’s stunning World Cup win, Virat Kohli took to his social media and shared his excitement over the team ending their 11-year ICC trophy drought.
Kohli also expressed gratitude to God. He wrote:
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“Couldn’t have dreamt of a better day than this. God is great and I bow my head in gratitude. We finally did it 🇮🇳❤🇮🇳❤jai hind ❤❤❤.”
The final match innings was a crucial one for Kohli as the batter was under the scanner of critics for his form. He was struggling to score throughout the season, however, when his team needed him the most, he delivered. He also won the Player of the Match award for his smart knock.
Virat Kohli Made An Emotional Retirement Announcement
After becoming the World Champion, Virat Kohli also announced his retirement from the shortest format of the game. Kohli even said that he would have retired if India had lost the World Cup.
Speaking at the post-match presentation of the final, Virat 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.”
He added: “We wanted to lift that cup. This [his retirement from T20Is] 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.”
Rohit Sharma is retiring as the second-highest run-getter in T20Is after Rohit Sharma (4,231). Kohli has scored 4188 runs from 117 innings.
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