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[Saba Sports News] The day before the final, Aiden Markram was asked if he was worried about Virat Kohli’s lackluster performance thus far in the tournament. “I don’t think it worries me,” the South Africa captain responded. “You’re not always going to do well, especially as a batter. So, we just do our planning and preparation and hope we can get it right on the day.”
South Africa managed to contain Kohli for most of the match, but he still made a crucial contribution. Despite scoring only 75 runs in seven games leading up to the final, Kohli delivered a vital 76 off 59 balls, helping India recover from a shaky PowerPlay to reach a championship-winning score.
“He’s been a champion player,” said skipper Rohit Sharma in praise of Kohli. “I am very happy for him that he batted like he did in the final. I know the quality that he has in big games. When we needed him the most, he performed.”
Kohli, like Rohit, retired from T20I cricket after the historic win. His final innings could have ended poorly, as he hit no boundaries for 35 balls and scored his half-century off his 48th delivery. However, he then scored 26 runs from his last 11 balls, giving India a crucial boost in the death overs.
“We wanted someone to bat as long as possible,” Rohit explained. “These are not easy wickets to score on immediately, so we needed someone to stay at the crease, and Virat did that perfectly.”
Kohli formed key partnerships with Axar Patel (72 for the fourth wicket) and Shivam Dube (57 for the fifth wicket), ensuring India reached 176 for 7 after choosing to bat on one of the better surfaces in the tournament.
Kohli began his innings with boundaries square of the wicket but had to restrain his shots after India lost Rohit, Rishabh Pant, and Suryakumar Yadav in quick succession. He finished his innings strongly, adapting his style to the situation.
“One day you feel like you can’t get a run, and then this happens. God is great,” Kohli said while announcing his retirement from T20 cricket. “[It was] just the occasion, a now-or-never kind of situation.”
“[It] wasn’t something that I was not going to announce even if we had lost. [It’s] time for the next generation to take the T20 game forward and do wonders as we have seen them do in the IPL. I have no doubts that they will keep the flag waving high and take this team further from here now. It’s been a long wait for us to win an ICC tournament. It’s not just me alone. You look at someone like Rohit, he’s played nine T20 World Cups and this is my sixth. He deserves it as much as anyone else in the squad,” Kohli remarked.