June 30, 2024 12:37 PM IST
Virat Kohli played the winning knock as India defeated South Africa in the T20 World Cup final.
Virat Kohli was in top form on Saturday as India ended their ICC Trophy drought by defeating South Africa in the T20 World Cup final in Bridgetown. Having been in poor form throughout the tournament, he silenced his critics with a knock of 76 runs off 59 balls as India posted 176/7 in 20 overs.
Hardik Pandya defended the target of 177 runs and took three wickets as India restricted the Proteas to 169/8 in 20 overs. Meanwhile, Jasprit Bumrah and Arshdeep Singh returned figures of 2/18 and 2/20.
After the match, Kohli posted a picture of India’s trophy celebration on Instagram. He captioned it, “I couldn’t have dreamed of a better day. God is great and I bow my head in gratitude. We finally did it, haha.”
The post received replies from none other than Vinicius Jr. and Conor McGregor. The Real Madrid superstar commented with a fire emoji, while the UFC legend wrote: “Legendary.”
In his post-match speech, Kohli announced his retirement from T20Is. He said: “This was my last T20 World Cup. This is exactly what we wanted to achieve. One day you feel like you can’t run and this is what happens. God is great. Is this your chance? , or it’s like it’ll never happen.” This was his last T20 match for India. (If he’s confirming if this is the last T20I) Yeah, this was an open secret that I didn’t go. Present even if you lose time. I hope that the next generation will take the T20 game forward and do amazing things like they showed in the IPL, and I hope they continue to wave the flag high and take this team even further from here. No doubt about it. We are just waiting to win the ICC tournament. ”
“It’s not just me. Look at a player like Rohit. He has played in nine T20 World Cups and this is my sixth. He deserves it more than anyone else in the team. I’m really happy that we were able to get the job done.” It’s hard to explain the emotions I felt after the game. I knew what state of mind I was in. The last few games haven’t felt very good.
“But when God has to bless you with something, He shows it to you in ways you can’t imagine. That’s why I bow my head in gratitude and humility right now. It was difficult, and the emotion of the game changed because of that, and we returned. I think it was really hard to keep things under control because of the history that we’ve had and the personalities that the players have shown. I think after a little while it sinks in, and after a little while the emotions come to the surface, but anyway. It’s a great day and I couldn’t be more grateful,” he added.
Stay informed…
See more
