The fourth T20I between India and Australia was a rare men’s international cricket match to be played at the Carrara Oval on the Gold Coast. A regular in women’s international cricket, this was just the third men’s international to be played at the ground, with the previous two also being T20Is. Steve Waugh was present at the venue for the match and said that it would’ve been great for the crowd here if India veterans Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli were present as well.
Kohli and Rohit had been part of the Indian squad for the first leg of their tour of Australia, which was a three-match ODI series, the only format that the pair still play in international cricket. Rohit acknowledged that this was his last appearance in international cricket in Australia. “Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are two all-time great players,” Waugh told reporters. “Virat Kohli is probably the greatest one-day player of all time. You want to see them play everywhere. People on the Gold Coast would love to see them play, but they can’t play every match.”
Kohli bagged a couple 0f ducks in the first two matches but both he and Rohit went out with a bang in the series. Chasing a target of 237, Rohit and Kohli were unbeaten on 121 and 74 respectively as the pair powered India to a dominant nine-wicket win in the third ODI. Their partnership finihed on 168 off 170 balls.
The series marked the the first time Rohit and Kohli returned to the national side after the final of the Champions Trophy in March where they defeated New Zealand. Since then, they have both retired from Tests. The two had already retired from T20Is after winning the T20 World Cup last year.
Rohit became only the 10th man in history to secure 50 international centuries. Besides his 12 tons in Test cricket, Rohit is still the joint-highest century-maker in the T20I format, which he retired from at the end of India’s victorious World Cup campaign in the Caribbean in July 2024. Kohli, meanwhile, overtook Kumar Sangakkara’s career tally of runs over the course of the innings and became
