'I've played my last T20I': Virat Kohli announces retirement after India win World Cup, urges next generation to step up

Virat Kohli announced his retirement from T20I cricket after India won the World Cup, beating South Africa by seven runs in a nail-biting contest at the Kensington Oval in Barbados on Saturday. In a nail-biting contest, India's pacers Jasrit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, and Arshdeep Singh produced magic in the death overs to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

It was an emotional moment for players of both sides. India captain Rohit Sharma, vice-captain Hardik Pandya, pace spearhead Jasprit Bumrah, and all-rounder Axar Patel - all had tears in their eyes. But it was Kohli's announcement that would make emotions run to different levels.

"This was my last T20 World Cup, this is exactly what we wanted to achieve. One day you feel like you can't get a run and this happens, God is great. Just the occasion, now or never kind of situation," Kohli, who top-scored with 76 off 59 balls to walk away with the Player of the Match award, said in the post-match presentation.

Kohli wants next generation to step up

When Harsha Bhogle wanted confirmation about Kohli's announcement, the former India captain took it a step further by stating that it was not only his World Cup but also his T20I appearance for India.

"Yes, I have. This was my last T20 game playing for India," Kohli said. Kohli said he would have announced it even if India had ended up second best in the final against South Africa.

"We wanted to lift that cup. This was an open secret. Not something that I wasn't going to announce even if we had lost. Time for the next generation to take the T20 game forward," Kohli said.

Kohli said captain Rohit Sharma deserved the trophy more as he has bene waiting for it for so long. "It's been a long wait for us, waiting to win an ICC tournament. You look at someone like Rohit, he's played 9 T20 World Cups and this is my sixth. He deserves it. It's been difficult to hold things (emotions) back and I think it's going to sink in later. It's an amazing day and I'm thankful," he said.

Virat Kohli walked out with his head held high. He was horribly out of touch in the entire tournament but he stood up when it mattered the most.

He started the innings by hitting Marco Jansen for three fours in the first overs, but the momentum shifted completely when South Africa hit back with three wickets in the powerplay. India lost Rohit, Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav - three players who had been instrumental in giving India flying starts in the first six overs were back in the hut. But Kohli dug deep and brought out his A-game to the table.

India were reduced to 34/3 in 4.3 overs. From then on, Kohli stitched two crucial partnerships. First, it was a 72-run stand with Axar Patel, who played a brilliant hand himself, hitting four sixes to score 47 off 31 balls. Then, he got together with Shivam Dube (27 off 16) to put on 57 runs. Kohli finished with 76 off 59 balls as India put on 176/7.

Kohli was adjudged Player of the Match. It was his 16th Player of the Match award - the most by any player.

In a glittering T20I career, Kohli scored 4188 runs in 125 matches at an average of 48.7 scored at a strike rate of 137.04. He is also the all-time highest run-scorer in T20 World Cups.