Virat Kohli ended his T20I career after India won the 2024 World Cup with a victory over South Africa in the final. The former India captain played a match-winning knock in the final and scored a vital 76 off 59 balls. Virat was bestowed with the Player of the Final award for his heroics. Few minutes after the final, Virat announced a shock retirement from T20Is. Rohit Sharma also decided to give up the shortest format after the final.

Almost a year after the final, Virat revealed the reason behind his T20I retirement. Speaking on the RCB podcast during IPL 2025, Virat said that the retirement decision was taken keeping the next T20 World Cup in mind. He wanted to give the new players enough time to be ready for the ICC event.

"I do not think things have changed for me in any way. The decision (to leave T20Is) was taken purely understanding that there is a new set of players who are more than ready and they need time, they need a 2-year cycle to evolve, handle pressure, play in different parts of the world, and play enough games to the point where when the World Cup comes, they feel like they are ready," he said.

Virat, who made his T20I debut under Suresh Raina's captaincy against Zimbabwe in June 2010, finished his career with 4188 runs in 125 T20Is. He was once the highest run-scorer in the T20I format. Virat hit one century and 38 half-centuries in T20Is.

Interestingly, he was the vice-captain of the T20I team on his debut. He finally made his T20I captaincy debut against England in January 2017. He made his ODI and Test captaincy debut in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

Virat retired from Test cricket in May 2025. He is now only active in ODI cricket and is all but confirmed to play the 2027 World Cup.