India skipper Rohit Sharma callled time on his T20I career after guiding the team to its second World Cup in the format, describing it as the perfect time to "say goodbye". Rohit made the announcement at the press conference after his long-time teammate Virat Kohli brought down curtains on his fabled career minutes after India defeated South Africa by seven runs at the Kensington Oval, Barbados in the final. "This was my last game as well. No better time to say goodbye. I wanted this (trophy) badly. It's very hard to put in words," Rohit told at the post-match press conference.
"This what I wanted and it happened. I was very desperate for this in my life. Happy that we crossed the line this time," he added.
The 37-year-old had led India in the 2022 T20 World Cup where the team was ousted in the semifinals by eventual champions England.
A year later, India reached the final of the 50-over World Cup at home under his leadership, but succumbed to Australia in the summit clash at Ahmedabad.
Rohit left T20Is with 4231 runs from 159 matches, having made five hundreds and 32 fifties. He continues to be active in the Test and ODI formats.
A video of the player has gone viral on social media in which he could be seen revealing the reporters that he didn't plan to quit T20I cricket initially, but he took the decision considering the ideal situation.
"I didn't think that I would retire from T20Is, but the situation was such... I thought it was the perfect situation for me. Nothing better than winning the cup and saying goodbye," Rohit said in the video.
After Rohit Sharma's retirement from the format, Hardik Pandya is the front runner to take the role of India captaincy in T20Is. When Rohit missed T20I action in 2023, it was Hardik Pandya, who led the Indian team in the shortest format.
(With PTI Inputs)