Virat Kohli said he had played his last T20 international after starring in India’s thrilling seven-run win over South Africa in the T20 World Cup final in Barbados on Sunday morning AEST.
The star batsman put a run of low scores behind him to make 76 as he was named player of the match, with the 35-year-old Kohli saying afterwards: “This was my last T20 World Cup, and this is what we wanted to achieve.
“One day you feel you can’t get a run, then things happen. God is great, and I got the job done for the team on the day it mattered.
“Now or never (that was my) last T20 for India, wanted to make the most of it. Wanted to lift the cup, wanted to respect the situation rather than force it.”
Kohli, pressed on whether he had played his last T20 international, added at the presentation ceremony: “This was an open secret, it’s time for the next generation to take over, some amazing players will take the team forward and keep the flag waving high.”
The right-hander finished his 125-match T20I career as the format’s second-highest run-scorer with 4188 at an average of 48.69 and strike rate of 137.04.
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Former India captain Kohli, one of the outstanding batters of his generation, scored more runs on Sunday than he had in the rest of the tournament.
Prior to the showpiece match at the Kensington Oval, he had managed just 75 runs in seven innings during the competition at a woeful average of 10.71
After he was dismissed for just nine in a semi-final win over England, the defending champions, India skipper Rohit Sharma said: “Virat is a quality player.
“Any player can go through that (a run of low scores).
“We understand his class. When you have played for 15 years, form is never a problem. He’s probably saving it for the final.”
Most runs in men’s T20Is
4231 – Rohit Sharma (IND)
4188 – Virat Kohli (IND)
4145 – Babar Azam (PAK)
3601 – Paul Stirling (IRE)
3531 – Martin Guptill (NZ)