‘I was panicking, I wasn’t comfortable’ – Rohit Sharma reflects on Virat Kohli’s calming dressing room in T20 World Cup final

Rohit Sharma, India’s T20 World Cup-winning captain, recently revealed an unseen moment from the final in Barbados, when the Men in Blue overcame South Africa by seven runs to claim their second T20 World Cup championship.

Rohit commented on how Virat Kohli’s knock helped the team recover from a terrible start. India’s bat-first strategy failed after losing Rohit, Rishabh Pant, and Suryakumar Yadav early on. The opener acknowledged that the mood in the dressing room was tense.

“If you hit three boundaries in the first over, you’ve got a good start. That’s what every cricketer desires. The experience of playing for India for many years is beneficial. You have the ability to manage your emotions, thoughts, and stay in the present moment. I am sure he was thinking the same thing: ‘Today is the day I need to be focused.’ I’m not worried about what happened before. And he played an outstanding innings.

A terrific partnership with Axar. After losing those three wickets up front, there were clearly a lot of nerves in the dressing room. I began to panic. I was uncomfortable. I thought we’d let them join the game. Of course, in the back of my mind, I knew our lower middle order, despite not batting much during the tournament, had made an impact when given the chance,” Rohit told JioCinema.

Rohit-Kohli to play just in ODIs

Kohli, who has struggled for form throughout the tournament, smashed a 59-ball 76 to help stabilise the innings. His partnership of 72 runs with Axar Patel and 47 runs with Shivam Dube helped the team score 176/7 in their allotted 20 overs. Later, India’s bowling restricted the Proteas to 169/8, ending their ICC trophy drought. Following the match, Kohli and Rohit announced their retirement from T20Is.

Rohit retired as India’s greatest run-scorer in the format, with 4,231 runs in 159 matches, five of which were hundreds. Kohli followed closely after with 4,188 runs in 125 games. After retiring from T20Is, the duo retired from Test cricket in May 2025, just days apart. Two modern-day greats will now focus solely on the 50-over format and will appear in India’s tour of Bangladesh in August of this year.