With India winning their second T20 World Cup in 2024, against South Africa, at the Kensington Oval, in Barbados, under the captaincy of Rohit Sharma, to end their 11-year ICC trophy drought and 17-year wait for his tile, the captain of the national team has declared his retirement from T20 internationals.
India became the first team, in the history of the competition, to lift a trophy with an unbeaten run. They got the better of Ireland, Pakistan, and the United States of America in the group stage of the tournament, before getting the better of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Australia during the ‘super eight’ round of the event.
When they came into the semifinal in Guyana, against England, the question was whether they could come up with the same intent that they had displayed in this competition, and captain Rohit Sharma didn’t think twice about doing so.
‘This is what I wanted- to win the cup’- Rohit Sharma
With the change of time in the modern generation, all the other teams had already gone with a different plan and method in playing their T20 cricket. It’s about being aggressive from the start and continuing the same momentum throughout the whole innings.
For a long time, India’s plan in T20Is was to be a little attentive in the first six overs and increase the tempo a tad more if only they had wickets in hand. And they would go berserk in the death overs of the game, which would take them to a par score at the end.
The requirement for such planning was to get somehow to stand up and raise their hand to go with a fearless approach and keep on smacking the boundaries and over boundaries at ease for the entire powerplay. The leader of the side, Rohit Sharma did the same.
In the Afghanistan game at the same track, he tried to hit the bowler for a boundary. Even though it wasn’t coming, he kept on going with the shots and eventually got out. In Antigua, against Bangladesh, Rohit went after the bowler from the very first over, as he cracked a few boundaries at the start.
Even after having already smashed Shakib Al Hasan for a few boundaries, he still threw his bat and was finally sent back. The same happened against Australia. This time, Rohit Sharma had already seen Virat Kohli getting back to the hut early. The old way of the team would be taking time, but this time they went after the bowlers, as the Nagpur-born ended with 92 runs in 41 balls.
It continued for the England game too in Guyana. When India came back to bat after the rain break, Rohit didn’t allow the bowlers to settle down in their planning, as he went after all of them regularly.
Coming into the post-match press conference, he announced his T20I retirement, after a long 17-year time in this format. When asked about the reason behind this decision, he said that winning the cup was the ultimate goal.
‘I’ve enjoyed it since the time I started playing this format. No better time to say goodbye to this format. I’ve loved every moment of this. This is what I wanted. I wanted to win the cup.’ Rohit Sharma expressed to the reporters.
Also Read: Rohit Sharma Reveals When Virat Kohli Informed Them Of His Plans To Retire From T20Is
It’s the best time to give the new players a chance to be ready for the next 20-over event in 2026, set to happen in India too, as he calls time after making 4231 T20I runs, the most at the moment in this format, in 151 innings, at an average of 32 and a strike rate of over 140.
‘I didn’t think that I would retire from T20Is, but the situation was such.’ Rohit Sharma reflected. ‘I thought it was the perfect situation for me. Nothing better than winning the cup and saying goodbye.’
When asked whether he would be part of the IPL, Rohit gave a positive reply. Along with him, Virat Kohli and Ravindra Jadeja also called their time from the format.