"Need to be better" – Virat Kohli lifts lid on chat with Rahul Dravid during his T20 World Cup struggles

Virat Kohli has opened up on his struggle with the bat in the recently-concluded ICC T20 World Cup 2024. While the former India skipper had a fairytale ending to his T20I career, he did face severe criticism from several quarters for failing to live up to the expectations with the bat before the final.

After a brilliant campaign in the IPL as an opener, Virat Kohli was promoted as an opener for the T20 World Cup. He had opened the innings in T20Is just once and many believed that the Indian team management made a mistake by promoting him as an opener.

Virat Kohli just could not find his form before the final as he struggled throughout. In the group stage, he managed to score only 5 runs from 3 games while in the Super 8s, his scores were 24, 37, and 0. He failed to get going in the semifinal as well, scoring only 9 runs against England.

The right-handed batsman finally regained his form when it mattered the most. India were in all sorts of trouble in the final after being reduced to 34 for 3 before Virat Kohli's brilliant knock of 76 runs helped them recover and post a competitive total of 176/7. India went on to win the game by 7 runs.

Virat Kohli on his struggle:

After the final, Virat Kohli spoke on his batting struggle during an interview with broadcasters 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 let himself down with his poor performances.

"Obviously, you have to move out of your comfort zone sometimes. In my mind, it was like no or never. I have to embrace my role and perform. When I couldn't perform, I told him (Rahul Dravid), ‘I let myself down. I need to be better’. (But) as I said, everything was just 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 batters. 

Only Rohit has scored more runs than him in T20Is. While Rohit has scored 4231 runs, Kohli has scored 4188 runs with the help of 1 century and a record 38 fifties. Kohli is also the highest run-scorer in the T20 World Cup.