Virat Kohli's T20I retirement a wrong decision? Batter's childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma shares bold views

Virat Kohli's childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma has spoken for the first time since Kohli's retirement from the T20I format. Rajkumar Sharma supported Kohli's decision and feels that retiring on such a high is always a great thing.

Recently, India won the T20 World Cup 2024 title by defeating South Africa by 7 runs in the final. Kohli played a match-winning knock of 76 off 59 balls to lift India to 176-7 in 20 overs. Earlier, India were in big trouble as they had lost 3 wickets for just 34 runs on the board.

But Kohli steadied the ship and played the typical low-risk cricket. On the other end, batters like Axar Patel and Shivam Dube kept taking their chances but Kohli stood at one end. He finally flourished in the death overs to lift India to a competitive score.

In reply, South Africa fell 7 runs short of the target. Virat Kohli was adjudged Player of the Match in the final for his brilliant innings under immense pressure.

Also read: Axar Patel reveals Rahul Dravid's strategic gamble that led to India's T20 World Cup 2024 win

Virat Kohli's childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma speaks on his T20I retirement

While speaking to Star Sports, Rajkumar Sharma believed that Kohli's retirement must be appreciated and it will help him to concentrate on the other formats now. 

"Virat has taken this decision. This is a big decision. He has taken this decision at such a big stage when India has won a World Cup and Virat Kohli was the Player of the Match in the final. That is the highest point for any player. I appreciate his decision. It is a great decision that he wants to give chance to the youngsters," Rajkumar Sharma said in a video posted by Star Sports on X (formerly Twitter).

"Now he will be able to concentrate more on Test cricket, which is his favourite format as well. He has done quite well in Tests and has a great thinking about Test cricket. I believe that he will be able to concentrate more on Tests now and will do well for the country," he added.

.@imVkohli's coach, Rajkumar Sharma, shared his opinion on the Indian batter's retirement and how it could affect him in the long run 👀

Congratulating the players and the board, Rajkumar also said that ending on a high note like Kohli is very impressive 👏 pic.twitter.com/dLJG1mKlr3

— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) July 1, 2024

Rajkumar Sharma congratulates Team India on winning the T20 World Cup 2024

"I want to congratulate Indian team for the World Cup win. I want to congratulate the support staff, selectors, BCCI as well. Our wait for an ICC over is finally over," Sharma also expressed his happiness on India's T20 World Cup win and congratulated the players and staff for their achievement.

Overall, Virat Kohli had a challenging time playing in the T20 World Cup 2024. The legendary batter scored 151 runs in eight matches of the tournament at an average of 18.87 and a strike rate of 112.68. Out of these runs, 76 runs were in the final only.

Along with Kohli, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja also retired from T20I cricket after India's historic win. With so many great players leaving the format, this can be called as a transition period for India in T20Is.