India’s T20 World Cup 2024 triumph turned a little bittersweet as skipper Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli announced their retirement from T20Is. India will look to revamp their T20I side as they will try to fill the void left by legendary cricketers Rohit and Kohli. The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) President Roger Binny said that it will take two to three years for the Indian team to bridge the gap despite abundance of talent coming via the Indian Premier League (IPL).
"There is so much talent in the IPL. Lot of cricketers are coming through but it is going to take some time to bridge the gap (after retirement of Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli from T20Is)," Binny said in a media interaction after the final.
"They have contributed so much. It's going to take time. We will probably see in the next two-three years, the team coming back into it's own without them," he added.
Rohit and Kohli’s numbers
Rohit and Kohli retired as the top two run-scorers in T20Is. Rohit has 4,231 runs from 151 games at an average of 32.05 including five centuries and 32 fifties. Kohli has 4,188 runs to his name at an astonishing average of 48.69 including one century and 38 half-centuries.
Kohli struggled with his form till the T20 World Cup 2024 final. He scored 75 runs from seven innings. In the final against the Proteas, he scored a match-winning 59-ball 76. He was named as ‘Player of the match’.
On the other hand, Rohit turned out to be India’s highest run-scorer in the tournament. He scored 257 runs from eight innings at an average of 36.71 including three half-centuries.
No underdog tag for Indian team
Binny, who as a part of Kapil Dev-led India’s 1983 World Cup-winning team, also said that no team dares to consider India as underdogs in any ICC event.
"In 1983, we went as underdogs. But after that, that tag was taken off us. Whenever we go into World Cup, people expect India to win. No one is taking us lightly anymore," he said.
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