Sunday, December 22, 2024

Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma announce T20I retirement: India legends end career with T20 World Cup 2024 trophy

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Kohli played 125 T20I matches in his career, scoring 4188 runs at an average of 48.69 and a strike rate of 137.04. He is the second-highest scorer in the format.

The ace Indian batter, who made his T20I debut against Zimbabwe in 2010, is also the fastest batter to reach the 3500-run milestone in T20Is, hitting the mark in just 96 innings.

With 1292 runs in 35 matches, Kohli, a former Team India captain across formats, also finishes his career at the top of the run scorers’ charts in T20 World Cups. He remains the only player to have been the highest run scorer in two different T20 World Cups.

Kohli scored 319 runs in the 2014 World Cup in Bangladesh and followed it up with 296 runs in the 2022 edition in Australia. His 319 runs in 2014, scored at an average of 106.33, is the highest run tally for any batsman at a single edition of the T20 World Cup.

He was also named in the ICC Men’s T20I Team of the Decade from 2011 to 2020.

Only Rohit Sharma, 4231 runs in 159 outings, has accumulated more runs in the T20I format than Kohli. Rohit made his T20I debut in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2007 against England and helped India win the trophy under MS Dhoni’s captaincy.

He doubled up at the T20 World Cup 2024, leading the Indian men’s cricket team from the front as captain and finishing as his team’s highest run-scorer in the tournament with 257 in eight matches.

The Hitman has also scored five T20I hundreds, the most in the format alongside Australia’s Glenn Maxwell.

As captain, the 35-year-old Rohit Sharma led India in 62 T20Is, winning 49 and losing only 12. Kohli captained in 50 matches, emerging victorious in 30 while losing 16.

“This is my last game as well, no better time to say goodbye to this format,” Rohit said after the T20 World Cup final, which marked his 50th win as Indian T20 captain. “I’ve loved every moment of this. I started my career for India playing this format and this is what I wanted, I wanted to win the World Cup.”

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