‘This World Cup was for him’: Kuldeep Yadav’s touching tribute to Rohit Sharma after India captain retires from T20Is

India captain Rohit Sharma led from the front in implementing the aggressive manner in which he wanted the team to play in the 2024 T20 World Cup.

While there was no verbal aggression, India tried to stick to a positive style of play tactically, particularly with the bat, throughout the tournament, and ended winning their first ICC trophy in 11 years and their first T20 World Cup since the inaugural edition in 2007.

Spinner Kuldeep Yadav was integral to India’s victory. While he wasn’t in the playing eleven for the entirety of the group stage, Kuldeep played in all of the games that were played since in the Caribbean. He took 10 wickets in the five matches that he played, often putting pressure on the opposition in the middle overs with Axar Patel. Kuldeep dedicated the trophy to Rohit, who retired from T20Is after the thrilling final against South Africa which India won by six runs in Barbados.

“This World Cup was for him, the way he planned and the way he loved this team. The intent and approach that he used to talk about in team meetings, he implemented that in the tournament while batting, led from the front. So this trophy is for him,” Kuldeep told Sports Today.

It wasn’t just Rohit who retired. Former captain Virat Kohli, who won player of the match in the final after scoring 76 in 59 balls, announced his retirement from the format in the presentation ceremony while all-rounder Ravindra Jadeja made the announcement the day after the final. All three players will be playing in the IPL though.

“There is probably no better feeling than this,” said Kuldeep about the trio ending their careers with the T20 World Cup in hand. “In the final Virat bhai hit the 70-odd runs, won the player of the match. I am sure he will be very happy with his career in the T20 format, same for Rohit bhai. Jadeja as well, he played such brilliant cricket over the years,” he said.

Mumbai victory parade was ‘unreal’

The team was stuck in Barbados for a couple of days after the final due to Hurricane Beryl. They returned to a busy day of celebrations in India where they first me Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi and then headed to Mumbai for a victory parade that ended in a felicitation ceremony. The parade went from one end of the city’s iconic Marine Drive promenade to the other where the stadium was situated.

Fans thronged the Marine Drive well before the player were scheduled to start their parade and what normally is a 10-minute drive took more than an hour and a half for the open-top bus to cover. “I’ll never forget it. It was the first time I experienced something like that. Rohit bhai probably experienced that earlier as he had won in 2007. What happened in Mumbai was just unreal for me,” said Kuldeep about the night in Mumbai.