Both Indian veterans and probably the two greatest-ever players in the format, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli, have announced their retirement from the post-match interview at Barbados.
India has finally won a World Cup for the first time since 2011, and this is the first major tournament win in the RoKo era. Veteran batters Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli have been tractable slaves to Indian cricket. Alongside individual glory, these greats have given their team major success across tournaments.
India’s victory wrenched the hearts of the greats as they fell to the ground and wept like a toddler, expressing their emotion, which came after immense toil over so many years.
After the greatness and the unbeaten triumph, the two greats have announced to leave the format playing for India. Rohit Sharma said that this win was not of the comebacks and efforts they made that very day; this is an outcome of the toiling they have done over the past 3–5 years.
After being named the Player of the Match in the final, Virat Kohli made the bold and stunning declaration of quitting the International T20s.
“This is my last T20 game playing for India, my last World Cup I was going to play.”
“I wanted to make the most of it. And this was our aim. We wanted to win an ICC tournament; we wanted to lift the cup. Yes, I have. This was an open secret; it was not something that I was not going to announce if we’d lost.”
Kohli added
Virat said he was happy to have stepped up for his team, especially on an occasion when it mattered the most, but now it is time for the youngsters to come and play their game; the format demands more dynamism in the game.
After Virat, Rohit Sharma also said goodbye to the format for India. He too said this would be his last game. Having made a debut in the format for India, Rohit ended with 2 T20 World Cup title wins, first in 2007 as a player and then as a captain in 2024.
Rohit ended as the highest run-getter in the format internationally, with 4231 runs. Scoring 257 runs at a blistering strike rate despite the tough pitches of the USA and Windies Islands, Rohit led his team to victories every time his team needed him to.
Rohit said at the press conference after the final
“This was my last 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. 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.”
India and Indians, though, would miss these greats, yet they are awaiting an era of good cricket post the ROKO-dominated era.