Rohit Sharma joins Virat Kohli in India T20 retirement after World Cup win

Kohli led India to victory with a player-of-the-match performance before announcing his retirement from the format.

India captain Rohit Sharma has followed Virat Kohli in announcing his retirement from T20 internationals shortly after the pair helped their team beat South Africa in the World Cup final.

Kohli, 35, produced a match-winning knock of 76 in his final international game in this format to set up India’s seven-run win in the humdinger at the Kensington Oval on Saturday.

In the immediacy of the win, an emotional Kohli, 35, spoke after collecting the Player of the Match award: “This was my last T20 game playing for India.

“Time for the next generation to take the T20 game forward.”

Kohli retires from the format with 4,188 runs from 125 T20 Internationals with a strike rate of 137.

Only a matter of hours later, Sharma joined opening partner Kohli in quitting T20 Internationals.

His tally is second only to Rohit’s 4,231 from 159 matches, which include a record five hundreds.

Addressing a press conference long after the final, Rohit, who was part of India’s triumphant 2007 squad, also announced his retirement from T20 Internationals.

“This was my last (T20I) game as well,” the 37-year-old said.

“No better time to say goodbye to this format. I’ve loved every moment of this.

“I started my India career playing this format. This is what I wanted, I wanted to win the cup.

“I was very desperate for this title in my life. Happy that we eventually crossed the line.”

Both men will continue to play Test and 50-overs cricket for India.

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