Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have retired from T20I cricket. Shortly after winning the T20 World Cup, both players decided to step away from the format. Suryakumar Yadav has given a significant statement about their retirement, revealing how the dressing room reacted to the news.
According to Surya, efforts were made to convince both players to play one more T20I World Cup. Suryakumar told Aaj Tak,
“Retiring from the game at such a moment is very difficult. But the good thing is they bid farewell to the game on such a grand occasion. When they were sitting in the dugout, we were all saying that the World Cup is in India after two years, so everyone was saying to not talk about retirement now and think about it next year. But it seemed like they had already made up their minds. I believe there couldn’t have been a better time for them to retire.”
In fact, after winning the T20 World Cup 2024 title, Virat announced his retirement during the post-match presentation. Shortly afterward, Rohit also announced his retirement. Speaking to news agency PTI, Rohit said,
“I don’t make decisions this way. When you feel internally what is right, you try to do that. I don’t think much about the future or the past. I didn’t think I would retire from T20I right now. But the situation was such that I felt there couldn’t be a better way to say goodbye than after winning the cup.”
Talking about their T20I careers, both Virat and Rohit have had outstanding performances. Rohit Sharma holds the record for the most runs in T20I, having scored 4231 runs in 159 matches. He also holds the record for the most centuries in this format, with five centuries to his name. Virat Kohli is second in the list of highest run-scorers in T20I, with 4188 runs in 125 matches at an average of 48.69.
The retirement of these two legends has left a significant impact on Indian cricket, and their contributions will always be remembered by fans worldwide.
