T20 World Cup 2024: Rohit Sharma eats sand from Barbados pitch after Team India's victory

Rohit Sharma could not contain his happiness after Team India's T20 World Cup victory in the nail-biting final against South Africa and it was evident after he ate granules of soil from the Barbados pitch.

The Indian skipper sat on the ground after the match and was seen putting grains of sand in his mouth as media persons ran towards him to capture the moment.

Rohit Sharma announced his retirement from T20 Internationals after guiding the team to its second World Cup in the format, describing it as the perfect time to "say goodbye".

This was after his long-time teammate Virat Kohli brought down curtains on his fabled career minutes after India defeated South Africa by seven runs at the Kensington Oval in the final.

"This was my last game as well. No better time to say goodbye. I wanted this (trophy) badly. It's very hard to put in words," Rohit told the post-match press conference.

"This what I wanted and it happened. I was very desperate for this in my life. Happy that we crossed the line this time," he added.

Using a popular Hindi film line, Rohit said the triumph here was written in the stars.

"Jo likha hain who hone wala hain, ye likha tha but humko pata nahi hain kee kab likha hain. Nahi toh hum aaram se aate and bolte 'likha hain' aur ho jayega (I believe that what is written is going to happen. I think it was written. But obviously you don't know before the match. Otherwise, we would have easily come and said, it's written)," he quipped.

The Instagram handle of the Wimbledon Open also acknowledged the India skipper and shared a collage of him and tennis legend Novak Djokovic who also consumed bits of the grass court after a triumph:

"Everything has to fall in place. As you saw, we were way behind the game. At one point, it seemed like they would win easily," he said referring to South Africa gaining the upper hand courtesy Heinrich Klaasen's blazing 52 off 27 balls.

Life has come full circle for Rohit, who was part of the 2007 T20 World Cup win under Mahendra Singh Dhoni's captaincy.

(With PTI inputs)