India’s T20 World Cup-winning captain Rohit Sharma said he was panicking in the dressing room after a sudden top-order collapse in the final against South Africa. He credited Virat Kohli’s calm presence and experience for helping the team recover and secure the title. India chose to bat first after winning the toss at Kensington Oval. The Men in Blue started strong at 23 for no loss in the second over. However, they lost three quick wickets and slumped to 34 for 3 in the fifth over. Rohit was dismissed for nine runs followed by Rishabh Pant and Suryakumar Yadav.
"I was panicking. I was not comfortable. I thought we had let them into the game," Rohit said in an interview with JioCinema.
He praised Kohli for rising to the occasion with a match-winning 76 off 59 balls. Kohli had a quiet tournament before the final but stepped up when the team needed him most. "The experience of playing for India for so many years helps. You can control your emotions, control your thoughts and stay in the moment. I’m sure he was thinking the same: ‘Today is the day I need to be focused.’ Not worrying about what happened before. And he played a brilliant innings, a fantastic partnership with Axar," Rohit said.
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Kohli built an important 72-run partnership with all-rounder Axar Patel. Axar played an attacking innings and scored 47 runs from 31 balls. His knock helped India steady the innings. Rohit said Axar’s performance was the turning point of the match. "Not many people are talking about Axar’s knock, but it was the game-changer. Scoring 47 off 31 at that stage was vital. And we needed one player to bat through the innings, Virat did that brilliantly," Rohit said.
"It meant so much to all of us. We had experienced heartbreak before. That is why this one was special. We planned everything in detail and worked hard every single day," Rohit said.
India successfully defended their total in the final overs. South Africa needed just 30 runs from the last 30 balls. But tight spells from Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh and Hardik Pandya helped India win a close match. Following the win, both Rohit and Kohli announced their retirements from T20 internationals.
