Virat Kohli has opened up about his struggle with the bat in the recently concluded ICC T20 World Cup 2024. While the former India captain had a fairytale ending to his T20I career, he faced severe criticism from various quarters for not living up to expectations with the bat ahead of the final.
After a brilliant IPL campaign as an opener, Virat Kohli was promoted as the T20 World Cup opener. He had opened the innings in T20Is only once and many believed that the Indian team management made a mistake in promoting him as an opener.
Virat Kohli couldn’t find his form before the final and struggled throughout the match. In the group stage, he managed to score only 5 runs in 3 matches, while in the Super 8, his scores were 24, 37 and 0. He also failed to get into form in the semi-final, scoring only 9 runs against England.
The right-handed batsman finally found his form when it mattered the most. India were in all sorts of trouble in the final over after being reduced to 34 for 3 before Virat Kohli’s brilliant knock of 76 runs helped them bounce back and post a competitive total of 176/7. India ended up winning the game by 7 runs.
Virat Kohli on his struggle:
After the final, Virat Kohli opened up about his batting woes during an interview with broadcaster Star Sports. The batting stalwart revealed that he had a chat with head coach Rahul Dravid during the tournament, where he told him that he had disappointed himself with his poor performances.
“Obviously, sometimes you have to step out of your comfort zone. In my mind, it was like no or never. I have to accept my role and act. When I couldn’t act, I told him (Rahul Dravid), ‘I let myself down.’ I need to be better.’ (But) like I said, it was all meant to be,” Kohli said.
Meanwhile, Kohli also announced his retirement from T20Is after the end of the final. Later, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja also announced their retirements. Kohli retired from the shortest format of the game as one of its most decorated batsmen.
Only Rohit has scored more runs than him in T20Is. While Rohit scored 4231 runs, Kohli scored 4188 runs with the help of 1 century and a record 38 fifties. Kohli is also the leading run-scorer in the T20 World Cup.
