Indian skipper Rohit Sharma had a memorable 2024 as he led the Indian team to the T20 World Cup 2024 title ending a decade-long wait for India's next ICC title.
Inside the next the next 10 months in March 2025, he led the Indian team to their third Champions Trophy title. India, who had not won an ICC for more than a decade, had now won two titles inside 10 months under Rohit's captaincy.
Rohit Sharma announced his T20I retirement after India's T20 World Cup title. Under Gautam Gambhir, Suryakumar Yadav was named India's next T20I captain for India. Virat Kohli also announced his T20I retirement alongside Rohit after the final.
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Rohit Sharma Recalls T20 World Cup Final Win
In a recent conversation with JioStar, Rohit Sharma recalled the T20 World Cup final against South Africa. India scored 176 runs for seven wickets after initially losing three wickets inside the powerplay. Rohit admitted that he panicked when India lost those early wickets.
“I was panicking. I wasn’t comfortable. I thought we’d let them into the game. Of course, in the back of my mind, I always believed our lower middle order, although it hadn’t batted much during the tournament, had made an impact whenever given the opportunity,” said Rohit Sharma, speaking to Jiostar.
India came back into the game with Virat Kohli (76 runs off 59 balls) and Axar Patel (47 runs off 31 balls) adding 72 runs together. While everyone remembers Kohli's knock, Rohit hailed Axar Patel for the knock that he played in the final.
“Not many people are talking about Axar’s knock, but it was the game-changer. Scoring 47 off 31 at that stage was vital. And we needed one player to bat through the innings, Virat did that brilliantly,” added Rohit.
Virat was struggling for form throughout the tournament but turned it around in the big final. Rohit hailed Kohli's knock as well highlighting how focused he was after getting a good start to his innings.
“If you hit three boundaries in the first over, then you’ve started well. That’s what every cricketer wants. The experience of playing for India for so many years helps. You can control your emotions, control your thoughts, and stay in the moment. I’m sure he was thinking the same: ‘Today is the day I need to be focused.’ Not worrying about what happened before. And he played a brilliant innings, a fantastic partnership with Axar,” said Rohit.
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South Africa Choke under Pressure
Chasing 177 to win, South Africa were in a good position till the 15th over. Hardik Pandya then dismissed Heinrich Klaasen in the 17th over and David Miller in the 20th over to turn the game around for India. SKY also took Miller's brilliant catch at long-on, which was the turning point in the match. In the process, India won the match and South Africa choked under pressure. June 29, 2025 marks the first anniversary of India's famous T20 World Cup win in Barbados.
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