“So much was riding on us”- Rohit Sharma on what made his hug with Virat Kohli special after India won ICC T20 World Cup 2024

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli retired from T20Is after India won the ICC T20 World Cup 2024.

Rohit Sharma, the former captain of India, said that his unique bear-hug with Virat Kohli just after the ICC T20 World Cup 2024 final in Barbados was the result of their years of “doing everything together.”

Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli had played T20Is exclusively for the year preceding the ICC T20 World Cup 2024, which was played in the USA and the West Indies. India were placed in Group A with Pakistan, Canada, the USA, and Ireland.

India defeated all of the other teams in the group stage to proceed to the Super 8s stage, which was played in the West Indies. There, India was placed with Australia, Afghanistan, and Bangladesh. The Rohit Sharma-led Indian side was on a roll and steamrolled every other team to qualify for the semis.

India faced England in the semi-final in a repeat of the 2022 ICC T20 World Cup, but this time, India dominated the proceedings and booked their ticket to the final of the ICC T20 World Cup 2024.

They faced South Africa in the final in Barbados on June 29, and in a match that hung on a balance, India came out victors by 7 runs in the end. This was India’s second T20 World Cup win after the 2007 edition victory.

“It was our last T20 World Cup”- Rohit Sharma on his hug with Virat Kohli after winning the T20 World Cup 2024

According to Rohit, the two felt accountable for the team’s performance in the competition and understood that it was their final chance to win the championship, which made it “even more special” for them.

One of India’s greatest hitters in the World Cup, Rohit scored 257 runs at a strike rate of 156.71, and he was an outstanding captain. Despite having a challenging campaign overall, Kohli led India’s first innings against South Africa in the final, scoring 76 off 59 to help the Men in Blue score 176-7 and defend it by seven runs.

“There was so much riding on us to take the team through,” Rohit said about the hug. “It’s not that the other guys were not keen or hungry enough, but [we were]… I don’t like to say that word, but the seniormost in that squad. And we have played a lot of cricket together. In fact, when he came into the team, I was only a year old in the team. So, literally, we did everything together, played a lot of cricket together, except for the IPL. And we have seen a lot of setbacks as well with the World Cups. So, for both of us, we knew it was our last T20 World Cup, so it made it even more special,” he added.

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Rohit and Kohli called off their T20 careers on the night of the final. They retired as the top two most run-getters in the format at that time.

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