Virat Kohli announced his shocking T20I retirement after guiding India to a T20I World Cup 2024 triumph with a match-winning 76-run knock against South Africa in the summit clash. The batting maestro waited a long time to get his hands on the coveted trophy, but he kept pushing himself tournament after tournament, playing in six editions to complete his limited-overs trophy cabinet.

It was an emotional moment for Kohli after the match as he made the big announcement of his T20I retirement after receiving the Player of the Match award in the final.

Over the years, Kohli was the glue that held the Indian batting line-up with his incredible record in the T20 World Cups. He ended his T20I legacy on the best possible note with a big knock in the final, which helped India lift the T20WC trophy for the second time after 2007.

The T20I Centurion

The 35-year-old was going through a lean patch after the Covid-19 break as the run machine was struggling to breach the triple-digit mark. Interestingly, he got his mojo back through the shortest format, it was Asia Cup 2022, where Kohli ended his century drought with a magnificent 122-run knock against Afghanistan. Though it was a dead rubber but played a pivotal role in Kohli's redemption.

T20 World Cup Run-machine

Kohli, the man of big occasions, lived up to the reputation whenever the stakes were high in the T20 World Cups. He represented India in 6 T20WCs and ended up becoming the player with the most runs in the tournament - 1292 runs in 35 matches.

The batting superstar played his first T20 World Cup in 2012, but the Kohli era in the tournament truly began in 2014 edition, where he single-handedly took India to the final with his consistent performances. The young version of Kohli was brash but effective on almost every occasion, and uhe owned the stage in the 2014 tournament with 319 runs in 6 matches. However, he suffered the first big heartbreak in cricket in that edition, only with defeat in the final against Sri Lanka.

His stature grew from 2014 to 2016, and so was his performance in the T20 World Cup hosted by India. It was another edition where he carried India on his shoulders and played crucial knocks in the knockout matches against heavyweight sides like Australia and South Africa to take India to the semis, and there he suffered another heartbreak. He smashed 89 runs in the semi-final against West Indies, but it wasn't India's night when Lendl Simmons trumped his knock to knock the hosts out. Despite not playing the final, Kohli was named Player of the Tournament for smashing 273 runs in 5 matches.

Six years later, the 'Vintage Kohli' took the onus on himself, and it started with a miraculous knock 83-run* knock against Pakistan at MCG in the 2022 T20 World Cup. He scored 296 runs - most in the edition but had to wait for another two years to get his hands on the coveted trophy as England knocked India out of the tournament in the semis.

Cometh the hour, Cometh the man

Before the 2024 T20 World Cup final, Kohli was struggling in the tournament and under the scanner. However, the team management and skipper Rohit Sharma were always calm with belief in his class, and the big man proved them right with a match-winning knock against the Proteas. It was not the ideal situation to bat with India losing three wickets in the powerplay, but under-fire Kohli produced a vintage performance and held the innings from the one end to ensure they post a challenging total.

He knew it was his last T20I knock, and he stood tall against all odds and scored 76 runs off 59 balls embellished with 6 fours and two sixes.

Kohli retires from the format with 4,188 runs from 125 T20 Internationals with a strike rate of 137. He will leave the format as its second-highest run-getter in international cricket, only behind Indian captain Rohit Sharma.

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