Rohit Sharma opened up after announcing his retirement from T20Is that he never thought to quit the format. Rohit announced his T20I retirement after India won the T20 World Cup 2024 by defeating South Africa in the final by seven runs at Kensington Oval Barbados in Barbados.
Speaking to select media after a thrilling seven-run win in the T20 World Cup final against South Africa, Rohit said he could not have picked a better time to leave the T20 format. However, he was quick to add that he would continue playing the IPL.
"I don't make decisions like this about my future. Whatever I feel is right from inside I try to do that. I don't think much about the future or whether I would play this World Cup after the ODI World Cup last year," the 37-year-old swashbuckler said.
"I never thought that I would retire from T20s. But the situation is such, I thought it is the perfect situation for me. Nothing better than winning the cup and saying goodbye," added Rohit when asked if would have retired from T20s earlier if India won the ODI World Cup at home seven months ago.
Rohit leaves T20Is with 4231 runs from 159 matches, having made five hundreds and 32 fifties. In 125 T20I matches, Kohli scored 4188 runs at an average of 48.69 with 122 being his highest. That was his only T20 century - coming against Afghanistan in September 2022.
Both will continue to be active in the IPL and the ODI and Test formats internationally.
Indian captain Rohit dedicated his victory to Indian head coach Rahul Dravid and Virat Kohli for their contributions in international cricket.
"More than any one of us, Rahul bhai deserved that trophy. What he has done for Indian cricket for the past 20-25 years, I think this was the only thing that was left in his cabinet. I am very happy from all of us on behalf of the entire team that we could actually do this for him," he said.
"Look, Virat has been a champion player without a doubt. And we all know what he has done for us. At some point everyone has to say goodbye to the game and Virat was very clear that this is what he wanted to do and he was very clear before the start of the tournament as well.
"I am very happy for him that he batted like he did in the finals," added Rohit.
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