India stars Kohli and Rohit retire from T20Is following World Cup triumph
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Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma announced their retirement from T20Is on the back of leading India to glory against South Africa.
Kohli, who had endured some indifferent form throughout the T20 World Cup, saved his best for last as he plundered 76 in India's seven-run win over the Proteas on Saturday.
Kohli has played 125 T20Is and is India's second-highest run-scorer in the format, with 4,188 to his name. Only Rohit (4,231 runs in 159 matches) can boast a higher total.
And the duo both confirmed after the match that they would be bowing out of the format.
"This was my last T20 World Cup and this is exactly what we wanted to achieve," Kohli said.
"This is an amazing game, I was telling Rohit today when we went out to bat that one day you feel like you can't get a run, and then you come out and things happen. God is great. I bow my head in gratitude.
"I'm really grateful I was able to get the job done for the team when it mattered the most.
"This is my last T20 game playing for India, my last World Cup I was going to play. I wanted to make the most of it. And this was our aim. We wanted to win an ICC tournament, we wanted to lift the cup.
"This was an open secret, it was not something that I was not going to announce if we'd lost. This was going to be my last T20 World Cup playing for India, it's time for the next generation to take over.
"Two-year cycle, there are some amazing players playing in India, they're going to take the team forward in the T20 format, and do wonders as we've seen them do in the IPL. I've no doubts they'll keep the flag waving high, and really take this team further from here now."
Rohit, who was part of the India squad that won the T20 World Cup in 2007, followed up Kohli's announcement with his own retirement confirmation.
"This was my last [T20I] game as well," Rohit said.
"No better time to say goodbye to this format. I've loved every moment of this. I started my India career playing this format. This is what I wanted, I wanted to win the cup.
"I wanted this badly. Very hard to put in words. It was a very emotional moment for me. I was very desperate for this title in my life. Happy that we eventually crossed the line."
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