Rohit Sharma Follows Virat Kohli Into T20I Retirement After T20 World Cup Glory

Soon after leading India to their first ICC trophy in more than a decade, skipper Rohit Sharma decided to call time on his T20I career. (Match Blog | Scorecard)

Rohit's announcement of hanging boots in T20Is comes just after his long-time teammate Virat Kohli also revealed that he was retiring from the shortest format.

Rohit-led India defeated South Africa in the final of the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup by seven runs on Saturday in Barbados to end a barren run for the Men In Blue in terms of big tournament trophies. Before this triumph, India's last ICC silverware had come in 2013 in the Champions Trophy in England.

"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 the post-match press conference.

Rohit who had led India to the semifinals of the 2022 T20 World Cup and to the final of the 2023 Cricket World Cup finally put his hands on silverware that had eluded him as the national skipper. Rohit played a big role in India's triumph in the West Indies and the USA and finished as the second-highest run-getter in the tournament with 257 runs at a strike rate 157.

"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 right-hander was among the two players, along with Bangladesh's Shakib Al Hasan, who had featured in every edition of the T20 World Cup since the inaugural tournament in 2007.

Rohit signs off as the most successful skipper in T20I history with 50 wins under his belt. He also finishes his career as the leading run-scorer in the T20I format with 4231 runs.

He is the only player to hit over 200 sixes and score five centuries in T20Is.

Making his T20I debut as just a 20-year-old in the 2007 T20 World Cup in Durban against England, the elegant right-hander finishes with records of most runs (4231), most appearances (159), most sixes (205) and most centuries (5) in the format. He also made 32 half-centuries in T20Is.

Earlier on the Indian Independence Day in 2020, former skipper MS Dhoni and his long-time teammate in India and Chennai Super Kings colours Suresh Raina had also announced retirements within hours of each other.