India won the T20 World Cup for the first time in 17 years on Saturday. Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, Hardik Pandya and Mohammed Siraj were very emotional. All of these players were seen with red eyes. Everything was justified as India were set to lose their third ICC tournament final in about a year, but they barely managed to win by seven runs in their T20 World Cup 2024 summit clash with South Africa. After India’s victory, Virat’s wife and Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma posted a heartfelt post on social media.
“My daughter’s biggest worry was seeing all the players crying on TV and wondering if there would be anyone to hug them…. Yes honey, what an amazing victory and what a legendary achievement, to have 1.5 billion people hug you. Champions – Congratulations!!” wrote Anushka.
Star batsman Virat Kohli announced his retirement from T20Is on Saturday after leading India to their second T20 World Cup title.
Kohli finished the innings with a game-deciding 76 runs off 59 balls with two sixes and six fours, and laid the foundation for India’s seven-run win over South Africa by converting a mammoth score of 176-7 from a precarious 34-3 situation in the powerplay.
Kohli said after winning the Man of the Match award that this was his last T20I against India.
“This was my last T20 World Cup and this is exactly what we wanted to achieve.” Kohli said this in a broadcast after India won the world title for the first time in 11 years.
“Some days you feel like you can’t run and then something like this happens. God is great. (It’s) just an opportunity, it’s now or never. This was my last T20 game playing for India. We had that. “I wanted to lift the cup,” he said.
“Yes, retirement was an open secret. Even if we lost, it wasn’t something we wouldn’t announce. It’s time for the next generation to take the T20 game forward.” Kohli confirmed this when asked if he would officially announce his retirement.
“It has been a long wait for us to win an ICC tournament. If you look at someone like Rohit (Sharma), he has played in nine T20 World Cups and this is my sixth World Cup.
“He deserves it. It was hard to hold back and I think he’ll figure it out later. It’s been an amazing day and I’m grateful,” added Collie.
(Including PTI input)
Topics mentioned in this article
