"It was now or never": Retiring Kohli celebrates India's triumph

Virat Kohli picked up the Aramco Player of the Match award for his innings of 76 off 59 balls that helped India to T20 World Cup 2024 glory over South Africa - and announced that he will be stepping down from the international format forthwith.

"This was my last T20 World Cup and this is exactly what we wanted to achieve," he said.

"This was an amazing game. I was telling Rohit [Sharma] today when we went out to bat, 'One day you feel like you can't get a run, then you come out and things happen.'

"I'm just really grateful I was able to get the job done for the team on the day that it mattered the most."

Kohli said his plan to step down from T20 internationals was an "open secret", and intended to give the next generation of talent an opportunity to build the team of the future.

"It was a now or never situation. This is my last T20 game playing for India, it's the last World Cup I was going to play, so I wanted to make the most of it."