Virat Kohli announced his retirement from T20Is as soon as India won the T20 World Cup beating South Africa in the final at the Kensington Oval in Barbados. It was a thrilling summit clash as India won by seven runs to win the ICC trophy after a gap of 11 years. Kohli played a memorable knock of 76 runs off 59 balls after India opted to bat first helping the side to post 176 runs, highest total ever in T20 World Cup final.
He also won the player of the match for his exceptional knock. With this award, Virat Kohli became only the second Indian player to win the match award in his last T20I. Subramaniam Badrinath was the first Indian cricketer to do so as he won the man of the match in the only T20I he played in his career back in 2011.
Badrinath had scored 43 runs off 37 balls against the West Indies on his debut that also turned out to be the last game of his career in the format. Kohli repeated his 13-year-old to win the player of the match award in the final T20I of his illustrious career.
Indian players to win player of the match award in their last T20I
| Player | Performance | Opposition | Year |
| Subramaniam Badrinath | 43 runs off 37 balls | West Indies | 2011 |
| Virat Kohli | 76 runs off 59 balls | South Africa | 2024 |
Kohli made the retirement announcement as soon as he was named the player of the match award. Moreover, the 35-year-old also stated that his decision wouldn’t have changed even if India had lost the final to South Africa. “Well, this was my last T20 World Cup.. And.. This is exactly what we wanted to achieve. This is an amazing game. I was telling Rohit today when we went out to bat I was like.. one day you feel like you can’t get a run and then you come out and things happen. God is great. I bow my head in gratitude. I am really grateful that I was able to get the job done for the team on the day it mattered the most.
“(On his different approach today) Just the occasion. It was now or never I knew. This is.. my last T20 game playing for India. It’s the last World Cup I was going to play, so I wanted to make the most of it and this was our aim. We wanted to win an ICC tournament. We wanted to lift the cup and as I said it was the occasion that helped me to put my head down and just respect the situation rather than trying to force things out there and really play the game that my team wanted me to play.
“(Have just you made an announcement about T20Is?) Yes I have. This was an open secret (smiles). It was not something that I was not going to announce even if we had lost. This was going to be my last T20 World Cup playing for India. It’s time for the next generation to take over,” Kohli said in the presentation ceremony after the final.
