'This has to be the greatest time of my career because I desperately wanted to win this' - Rohit Sharma on T20 World Cup 2024 triumph

On Saturday, June 29, at the Kensington Oval in Barbados, India defeated South Africa by seven runs to win the 2024 T20 World Cup. Rohit Sharma became only the third cricketer after Kapil Dev and MS Dhoni to lead India to a World Cup win.

The legendary batter, who had been a part of India's 2007 T20 World Cup-winning squad, was overwhelmed with emotions on Saturday after leading his side to a monumental victory against the Proteas. Rohit rated the triumph as the greatest in his career because of how desperately he wanted it.

"This has to be the greatest time, I can say that. It's only because how desperately I wanted to win this. So, all the runs, all the runs that I've scored in all these years, I think it does matter, but I'm not big on stats and all of that. I think winning games for India, winning trophies for India, that is what I look forward to all the time. And having this now right beside me probably has to be, I don't know, honestly, I don't know if it's the greatest or what but it is definitely one of the greatest, I can say that," Rohit said at the press conference after the match.

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After Hardik Pandya conceded a single off the last ball while defending nine runs, Rohit sunk onto the ground and was seen punching the turf in joy. When asked to describe his emotions at that moment, the 37-year-old said that such celebrations aren't planned and just happen spontaneously. He was relieved after India won an ICC event after a long wait of 11 years.

 "I wanted this badly. It's very hard to put it in words because that moment, I don't want to say what I was thinking and what was going in my mind, but it was a very emotional moment personally for me. I wish I could capture that moment myself but not really, you can't do that but I will always remember that. Yeah, those are the moments you wait for and then you don't plan these things, it just happens because you're so desperate for certain things in life and I was very desperate for this in my life. So happy that we eventually crossed the line this time," Rohit said.

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India posted a score of 176/7 after 20 overs on the back of a 59-ball 76 from Virat Kohli. In reply, South Africa could only manage 169/8 in their 20 overs as Hardik starred with figures of 3/20 in three overs.