There is no pain like witnessing a legend at the end of his career, as Indian cricket felt it in full measure this past weekend when Virat Kohli on Saturday announced he will retire after the 2027 ODI World Cup.
One of the greatest batters to ever play the game, Kohli revealed in a chat with JioStar that the 2027 World Cup will mark his farewell in Indian colours.
A clear signal of how he intends to call it a day on his international career.
“For me, it’s the last World Cup I’m going to play for India. And that is my motivation. Like, you know, to leave everything out there,” Kohli said.
And of course, the goal is absolutely to win the World Cup. And whatever it takes, I’m absolutely ready, he added.
The former India captain also added that the 50-over World Cup demands a different level of endurance, with teams required to sustain the intensity of shorter-format cricket across a much longer campaign.
He compared the workload of a World Cup match to multiple T20 games, highlighting the challenge of maintaining the same level of concentration and physical effort throughout the competition.
The 2027 tournament will be played in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia, meaning India will face conditions away from home. Kohli acknowledged that playing an extended World Cup campaign overseas adds another layer to the challenge.
Virat has already retired from T20 internationals, stepping away right after India’s 2024 T20 World Cup win, and from Test cricket in May 2025, so this is now the only format left for him to bow out of.
Beginning his career sixteen years ago, Kohli was also part of the team that won the 2011 World Cup, an event that was one of the best moments of his career.
A 37-year-old was also part of the 2023 World Cup which India dominated for weeks until the final they lost to Australia.
A career built on records
Apart from what may happen next year, Kohli will enter the event as one of the best players of his era.
Kohli captained India to win the 2008 U19 World Cup that marked the beginning of the batsman’s cricket career.
Over time, Kohli has featured in India’s winning teams in the 2013 Champions Trophy, 2024 T20 World Cup, and 2025 Champions Trophy, implying that the list of Kohli’s achievements includes nearly all formats of the game.
And that’s not where his achievements end; Kohli’s ODI record is remarkable, scoring 14,941 runs, the second-highest behind Sachin Tendulkar’s 18,426, with 54 centuries, the most in this category.
He has a lot more up his sleeve, having been awarded the most Player of the Series and the second-most Player of the Match awards ever.
India has some ODI series left until the 2027 World Cup.
From the look of things, Kohli doesn’t plan to retire from cricket any time soon. He will continue playing franchise cricket for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the Indian Premier League.
