“I was crying, he was crying, and we hugged” – Virat Kohli on winning the 2024 T20 World Cup with Rohit Sharma

India’s talismanic batter Virat Kohli admitted he has never seen Rohit Sharma so emotional as he did after the team’s T20 World Cup victory. India bested the Proteas by seven runs in the summit clash at Barbados on Saturday to win their second T20 World Cup title.

After Hardik Pandya bowled the final ball, Indian players’ emotions were palpable on the field. Kohli and Rohit have been consistent performers for the team in the last decade and they have been desperately waiting for a major ICC title.

The wait finally ended in Barbados and after the win, both the veterans decided to hang their boots from T20Is.

While talking to the host broadcaster during the felicitation ceremony at the Wankhede Stadium on Thursday, Virat Kohli said, “This is the first time in 15 years of playing together that I’ve seen Rohit show so much emotions on the field. When I was walking up the steps, I was crying, he was crying, and we hugged. For me, that’s going to be a very special memory from that day, because all said and done, after so many years, our only goal has been this. The only goal has been Indian cricket and the Indian flag. And that’s what we take pride in.”

Meanwhile, after the 2011 ODI World Cup victory, Virat Kohli had famously said for Sachin Tendulkar, “He has carried the burden of expectations for 24 years, it is now time that we carry him on our shoulders.” Kohli, who was only 22 at that time admitted, he had failed to understand the magnitude of the famous win for India but now being a senior member of the team, he knows what it is like to win a big title.

“We both have been trying this for so long. Trying our hardest when I was captain and he was a senior player in the team. And now when he is captain and I am a senior player of the team. The only aim was to win India a World Cup. So I hope that we have carried that burden to an extent and given the result the country wanted us to provide to them,” said Kohli in the same interview.

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli scored 4188 runs in 125 T20I matches at an average of 48.7 and a strike rate of 137.04 and finished his T20I career on a high.