India beat South Africa by seven runs in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 final played in Barbados on June 29 to end the 17-year-long wait for a second T20 World Cup title. After India’s win in the final, Virat Kohli announced his decision to retire from T20Is, and during the post-match press conference, Indian captain Rohit Sharma also confirmed his retirement. A day after India’s memorable win, star all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja joined the bandwagon by calling time on his 15-year-long T20I career. The decision of Rohit, Kohli, and Jadeja’s retirement came as a surprise not just for fans but also to the Indian players.
During an interview with Hindustan Times, former India bowling coach Paras Mhambrey revealed that the trio’s decision to retire from T20Is was a surprising one for the team management, as there was no discussion about it in the dressing room.
“I think no one was expecting that (the retirement announcements),” Mhambrey was quoted as saying.
“If you had any conversation earlier, we would have known this would be coming. But none of them had this conversation. If, individually or privately, they had a conversation with someone like Rahul (Dravid), that’s a different thing, but not amongst the team or other individuals. So that was a little surprising for us as well,” he added.
Rohit, who is the third Indian captain to win an ICC trophy, finished his career as the most capped player in T20I history and also holds the record for most runs, sixes, and hundreds, whereas Kohli is the second leading run scorer in T20Is.
“If you look at it from the players’ perspective, there can’t be a better end to one format, right? We are talking about people who have been part of the dressing room for maybe more than a decade, 12–13 years.
“After winning the T20 World Cup, especially the stage that their careers are in, they’re no longer young. You’ve got to sometimes choose. You have to decide what formats you’re going to play and cut down the cricket to focus on a particular format because age is not on your side. The experience and skills are there, but still, you’ve got to be smart. And I think that’s one of the reasons they must have done that because they couldn’t go on a bigger high than winning the World Cup,” Mhambrey said.
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