With teardrops still shining at the corner of his eyes - or maybe it was the reflection of the trophy, who knows - Virat Kohli dropped curtains on his T20I career. Regarded as the world's best all-format batter not too long ago, Kohli had decided to walk in the shade in the shortest format and never return.

Less than an hour later, Rohit Sharma joined Kohli in announcing his T20I retirement. The next day, it was Ravindra Jadeja.

In less than 24 hours, the pillars of India's T20I team for the last decade were gone. That's how much the T20 World Cup meant to them. Years later, when someone attempts to gauge the importance of India's first ICC title in 11 years, the retirement of Rohit, Kohli and Jadeja will surely be mentioned in bold letters. Never has Indian cricket seen three cricketers of that stature calling it a day after one tournament.

That's how much the T20 World Cup meant to them.

A school of thought believed that they, especially Rohit and Kohli, had overstayed their welcome in T20Is. It was a late decision to make them a part of India's campaign for the 2024 World Cup. For they hadn't featured in any T20I since the World Cup semi-final against England in Adelaide in 2022 till they were recalled for the Afghanistan series in January 2024. Doubts about the strike rate of Virat Kohli; questions on Rohit Sharma's lack of runs in the IPL followed Team India like shadows to the Americas.

The target was predetermined if India fell short. But they didn't. Rohit was at the forefront with defining knocks right throughout the tournament, and Kohli, opening for the first time in a World Cup, stood up when it mattered the most with 76 off 59 in the final against South Africa. This, after India lost three of its best boundary-hitters inside the powerplay.

Together, Rohit, Kohli and Jadeja had five cracks at a World Cup before but the trophy eluded them every time. The most heartaching one was the ODI World Cup final at home. So, when they finally managed to lay their hands at the Cup, it felt like life came a full circle.

‘Rohit, Kohli, Jadeja’s retirement surprised all of us': Paras Mhambrey

Was it on the expected lines? Some would say it was, but no one in the Indian dressing room had an iota of doubt. In an exclusive chat with Hindustan Times, Paras Mhambrey, India's bowling coach in the World Cup, revealed how it came as a surprise even to the team management.

"I think no one was expecting that (the retirement announcements)," Mhambrey told HT.

"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 said.

Rohit, 37, Kohli, 35, and Jadeja, 35, were not getting younger. With the gruels of all three formats in India's busy schedule, Mhmabrey said they had to make a difficult choice.

"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 for maybe more than a decade, 12-13 years.

"Virat was a part of the 2011 World Cup. And not to win a World Cup since 2011 must have been big. He wanted that badly. So obviously, when you go through a journey to achieve something you wanted so badly for years, sometimes as a player, you feel that journey is complete in that format and that you really can't get better.

"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 gone on a bigger high than winning the World Cup," Mhambrey said.

Rohit retired with the most runs in T20Is (4231 in 151 innings). Kohli is second on the list with 4188 runs in just 117 innings. Jadeja, on the other hand, scored 515 runs in 41 innings and picked up 54 wickets. All of three of them remain available for ODIs and Tests.

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