Virat Kohli announced his retirement from T20 Internationals on Saturday shortly after helping India win the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.
Kohli scored a match-winning knock of 76 runs off 59 balls to help India beat South Africa by seven runs in the final held at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.
“It’s my last T20 for India. This was an open secret and it’s time for the next generation to take over,” Kohli said in the post-match presentation.
“This was going to be my last T20 World Cup playing for India, it's time for the next generation to take over. Two-year cycle, there are some amazing players playing in India, they're going to take the team forward in the T20 format, and do wonders as we've seen them do in the IPL. I've no doubts they'll keep the flag waving high, and really take this team further from here now,” he added.
Kohli had endured a poor tournament coming into the final. In the previous seven matches, the 35-year-old batter scored just 75 runs and was dismissed for 0 twice.
However, he doubled his tally in the final anchoring the Indian innings as the South African bowlers picked up wickets at regular intervals.
Kohli made his T20I debut for India in 2010 and retires as the second-highest run scorer in the world with 4188 runs in 125 matches. Only India captain Rohit Sharma has played more matches - 159 matches - and scored more runs - 4231 - for India than Kohli.
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