Former South African skipper AB de Villiers reckons it won’t be a bad time for Virat Kohli to retire from ODIs if India goes on to win the upcoming ODI World Cup. Kohli became an ODI World Cup winner when India won in 2011 under the leadership of MS Dhoni.
Since then, Kohli has taken giant strides at the top level in the last decade and he is one of the best batters in the history of the 50-over version. Kohli has scored 47 ODI centuries in his glorious career and also completed 13000 ODI runs in the recently concluded Asia Cup, which India won for the eighth time.
The talisman has scored 13083 runs in 281 ODI matches at an average of 57.38 and there is no doubt that he is going to hold the key for the Indian team in the upcoming ODI World Cup while batting at three.
In the ongoing year, Kohli has scored 612 runs in 16 matches at an average of 55.63. The right-hander also scored a fine knock of 122 runs off just 94 balls in the Super Fours stage match against Pakistan in the Asia Cup.
AB de Villiers, who has observed Virat Kohli from close quarters while playing with him for the Royal Challengers Bangalore, feels his former IPL teammate can call it a day if India wins their third ODI World Cup title.
“I know he loves travelling to South Africa (for the 2027 World Cup), but it’s very difficult to say. It is a long time away. Let’s focus on this one first, I think that’s what Virat Kohli would tell you. I think if they win this World Cup, it might not be a bad time to say, ‘Thank you very much. I am maybe just going to play Test cricket for the next few years and a little bit of IPL, enjoy the last bit of my career, have enough family time, and say goodbye to everyone’,” said De Villiers on his YouTube Channel.
India will begin their World Cup campaign against Australia at MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on 8th October.
India’s final World Cup 2023 squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, KL Rahul (WK), Ishan Kishan (WK), Suryakumar Yadav, Hardik Pandya (VC), Ravindra Jadeja, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Shardul Thakur, Mohammed Shami, Mohammed Siraj, Jasprit Bumrah.
