Virat Kohli has been very busy since his return to India with the T20 World Cup winning team. He and all the members of the Indian team have been having a great time.
The Indian team landed in New Delhi early on Thursday. They then met the Prime Minister at his residence in the morning. They left for Mumbai in the afternoon and landed in the evening.
The players took part in a grand parade from Nariman Point, through Marine Drive, to the Wankhede Stadium. All the players were congratulated by the BCCI in the presence of BCCI Secretary Jay Shah and President Roger Binny.
Virat Kohli also had a special interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and opened up about his emotions about how he was out of form throughout the tournament and what led to him getting the decisive knock in the final. He also thanked the Prime Minister for inviting the Indian players after their World Cup victory.
Watch: Virat Kohli’s conversation with Prime Minister Narendra Modi
#LOOK | During his interaction with Prime Minister Modi, Virat Kohli said, “Thank you very much for calling us all here and this day will always remain in my mind because in this entire tournament, I was not able to make the contribution that I wanted to and at one point I also told Rahul… image.twitter.com/g7kRWr3jBN
— AIN (@ANI) July 5, 2024
“Thank you so much for calling us all here. This day will always remain in my mind because in this entire tournament I couldn’t make the contribution I wanted to and at one point I also told Rahul bhai that he hasn’t done justice to me and the team so far. Then he told me that when the situation comes, I’m sure you will be fit,” Kohli said.
In the same conversation, he spoke about the conversation he had with Rohit Sharma when they both opened the batting for India in the final.
“So, this conversation happened between us and when we went to play, I told Rohit that I didn’t have much confidence that I could bat the way I wanted to. So when we went to play, I got 3 fours in the first 4 balls, so I went and told him, what kind of game is this, one day it seems like not a single run will be scored and then another day comes and everything starts happening,” Kohli concluded.
Virat Kohli also honestly admitted that his ego had taken over and he had to put it aside to move forward.
“I realized that when you feel like you can do anything, your ego takes over and the game gets away from you. I had to put my ego aside. The situation was such that I had to put my pride for the team aside. When you respect the game, the game respects you. That’s what I experienced,” he said.
Prior to his knock in the final, Virat Kohli had just scored 75 runs in seven innings, averaging just over 10. However, his knock of 76 in the final helped India post a competitive score of 176, which was the highest score recorded in a T20 World Cup final. He was adjudged as the Man of the Match for his knock in the final.
South Africa were on the verge of breaking a record in the final. At one stage, they were well in the match. However, Hardik Pandya’s dismissal of Heinrich Klaasen swung the game back in India’s favour. Bumrah sealed the win with Marco Jansen’s dismissal. Hardik did a good job defending 16 off the last over and India won the match by seven runs.
After the final, Kohli revealed that he had played his last T20I for India. He retired as the second-highest run-getter in the format so far, with 4188 runs in 125 matches, at an average of 48.70 and a strike rate of 137.04.
Also Read: Watch: India captain Rohit Sharma and three other players congratulated by Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde