It was during the Asia Cup 2012 in a match, when the legendary Sunil Gavaskar observed Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma to call them the future of Indian cricket, as Rahul Dravid had already called it a day, while the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and VVZ Laxman aren’t going to be around for long. It was just the start for Kohli in International cricket, whereas Rohit was in and out of the team.
12-years-later, both carried the team to their second Men’s T20 World Cup in 2024, ending India’s drought of an ICC trophy for 11 years and a 17-year-long wait for a 20-over medal in this tournament, before both Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma announced their retirements from this format of the game.
The Mumbai batter had enjoyed the inaugural edition of the tournament, when they became the champions, while for Kohli, the biggest moment till then in their life was earning the ODI World Cup in 2011, after 28 years of wait for the country.
But the crunch moment was winning at least one trophy in those ICC tournaments, after giving so much to the team together for 15 long years, and at last they wrapped it up with joy and so many beautiful moments to look back on in years to come.
Also Read: David Miller Breaks Silence On Retirement From T20 Cricket
‘I was crying, Rohit was crying, and…’- Virat Kohli
The Indian team was felicitated at the iconic Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, when Virat Kohli summed up the moment between him and Rohit Sharma at the end of the T20 World Cup 2024 win, when the former was stepping up through the stairs to the India dressing room, at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.
Virat Kohli mentioned the special moment, sharing how they have powered the bond between each other, and how this memory would stay with him for the rest of his life.
‘I don’t know about breaking the internet but this is the first time in 15 years of playing together that I’ve seen Rohit show so much emotions on the field. When I was walking up the steps, I was crying, he was crying, and we hugged.’ The former India captain noted.
The goal, as Virat Kohli pointed out during the chat in the ceremony, was to take Indian cricket up and wave the Indian flag high, and by being able to do so, both of them take a lot of pride in it.
‘For me, that’s going to be a very special memory from that day, because all said and done, after so many years, our only goal has been this.’ Kohli stated. ‘The only goal has been Indian cricket and the Indian flag. And that’s what we take pride in.’
The veteran also remembered the day when he won the 2011 ODI World Cup in Wankhede beating the Sri Lanka side. Being at the age of 22, he didn’t understand the emotions that the seniors were showing, but now having been in the side for more than 14 years, he spoke on this victory.
Also Read: Shakib Al Hasan Yet To Decide His Participation On India Tour
‘When I won the World Cup (in 2011), honestly, I couldn’t connect with the emotions of the senior players at that point of time. I was like ‘I don’t understand why they are crying’.’ Virat Kohli looked back. ‘For me it felt like ‘Yeah, we won the World Cup. It’s as easy as that’. I was 22-23. Trying our hardest when I was captain and he was a senior player in the team. And now when he is the captain and I am a senior player of the team. The only aim was to win India a World Cup.’
Rohit Sharma, the captain of the India team during the tournament showed the aggressive brand of their game and ended up being the second-highest run-getter of the event, with 257 runs in eight innings, at an average of 36.71 and a strike rate of 156.70, with three fifties.
Virat Kohli wasn’t enjoying the start of the tournament with a string of poor shows, but on the final day, he smashed that winning 76-run knock, to end the event with the ‘Player of the Match’ award.