For every Indian Saturday night June 29, 2024, will be momentous and crores of Indians rejoiced as India won. With emotions and celebrations galore. Team India broke down into tears as India won the World Cup. Hardik Pandya, Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli couldn't control their tears and hugged and as they were living the moment of joy.
After India won the World Cup, two cricketing stalwarts Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma - announced their T20I retirements on Saturday.
While Kohli announced his retirement minutes after the historic triumph, India captain Rohit Sharma announced it in the official post-match press conference.
Rohit confirmed that he would continue to represent India in ODIs and Tests.
"This was my last game as well. No better time to say goodbye. I wanted this (trophy) badly. It's very hard to put in words, Rohit told the post-match press conference after ending India's over-a-decade-long title drought. "This what I wanted and it happened. I was very desperate for this in my life. Happy that we crossed the line this time," he added.
His retirement marks the end of an illustrious T20I career during which he became the format's highest scorer, amassing 4231 runs in 159 matches. Now, as captain, he has led India to their second title, further cementing his legacy.
Nothing but massive respect for you, @HardikPandya7! ???
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) June 29, 2024
After his recent setbacks, 'Kung fu Pandya' narrates how his unwavering spirit, hard work & belief led to his comeback in the #T20WorldCup! ?
Tune in to watch the entire celebrations, all day long, TODAY, only on Star… pic.twitter.com/lwxAowAD1A
As soon as the news broke, fans on social media started the trend end of an era as Rohit and Virat announced their retirement from T20i.
Suryakumar Yadav's reaction to Virat and Rohit's T20I retirement
Suryakumar Yadav revealed that the team tried to convince both Rohit and Virat to not talk about their T20I retirement and to stick by for another T20 World Cup as it is only two years away and will be held in India itself. However, both players had already made up their minds.
Everyone was happy to see the team ending their 11-year-long trophy drought but were taken aback after the star duo made it clear that they won't be playing the shortest format of the game anymore for Team India. After the match, Suryakumar Yadav revealed how the dressing room reacted to this news and tried to convince them to play another edition of this mega tournament.
Speaking to SportsTak, Suryakumar Yadav said, "I think it is very difficult to leave the game at such moments. But it is a big thing. It is good that they are leaving this format at such a high. Although when they were in the dressing room, we were saying the same thing, that we still have 1.5 years, and after 2 years the World Cup is in India only. Everyone was standing around saying that don't talk about this, we'll see next year. But they both had made up their minds. It was already made up and I think no better moment."
Together, Sharma and Kohli have been pillars of Indian cricket, their contributions instrumental in numerous victories over the years.
With this, it was Rahul Dravid's final game for the Men in Blue as their head coach
He said, "I have felt short of words over the last few hours. I just could not be more proud of this team, the way we had to fight difficult situations," Dravid said after the triumph. Even today I think it was a great testimony... for the team to lose three wickets in the first six overs, to be in the kind of position we were in, but the boys just kept fighting, they kept believing. You know, as a player, I was not lucky enough to win a trophy, but I tried my best whenever I played and it happens, it's part of sports."
