Photo Credit: Cricexec
Announces T20I retirement at post match press conference
A couple of hours after India defeated South Africa in the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup Final, after the post-match trophy presentation and team celebrations, Rohit Sharma entered the press conference room at the Kensington Oval.
His fellow opener and cricketing legend Virat Kohli had already announced his retirement from T20 International matches.
Toward the end of the press conference, in which Sharma spoke about a variety of subjects related to the match and beyond, he was asked if he thought he would continue in T20Is for a while.
In response, Sharma announced his own retirement: “No, this was my last game as well. No honestly, I’ve enjoyed it since the time I started playing this format and no[ ] better time to say goodbye to this format. I have loved every moment of this. I started my India career playing this format. And this is what I wanted. I wanted to win the cup and say… (waves).”
This was met with a loud round of applause in the press room in appreciation for Sharma’s career.
After the press conference and further team celebrations, Sharma came out to speak to a select group of reporters, in which he once again discussed his decision:
“What I feel inside is what I want to do. So I don’t think that far ahead or back about whether I would have played this World Cup had we won the last one. I don’t think that far ahead. I didn’t think about retiring from T20. But such a situation has presented itself, I thought it was the perfect situation for me. Nothing better than winning the cup and saying goodbye.”
