India batting legend Virat Kohli has announced his retirement from T20 internationals after Men in Blue won their second T20 World Cup defeating South Africa in the final at Kensington Oval in in Bridgetown, Barbados. The batting great scored 76 runs in his last match which helped India to register the win by seven runs.
Kohli who made his debut in 2010 against Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club has played 125 games in the shortest format of the game scoring 4188 has featured for the last time in Barbados.
Kohli anchored the innings with a match-winning 59-ball 76 with two sixes and six fours to lift India from a precarious 34 for three inside the powerplay, to a formidable 176 for seven, the cornerstone of India's 7-run victory over South Africa.
Kohli said after collecting the Man of the Match award that it was his last T20I match for India.
“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” said Kohli.
We wanted to lift that cup. Wanted to Yes I have, this 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. It's been a long wait for us, waiting to win an ICC tournament. You look at someone like Rohit, he's played 9 T20 World Cups and this is my sixth added Kohli.
He deserves it. It's been difficult to hold things (emotions) back and I think it's going to sink in later. It's an amazing day and I'm thankful" concluded Kohli.
With this win, India joins West Indies and England as two-time winners of the Men's T20 World Cup, and gave a winning farewell to head coach Rahul Dravid. With the ultimate glory achieved, it made way for emotional scenes – hugs, handshakes and tears welling up in the Indian camp, with ‘chak de india’ and ‘lehra do’ blaring from the loudspeakers.
