India batsman and superstar cricketer Virat Kohli, aged 34, is most likely to appear in his last ODI World Cup tournament when he takes the field on October 8 against Australia in Chennai to kick-start India’s World Cup 2023 campaign.
Virat Kohli is unlikely to play in the ODIs when the 2027 WC comes around. He, and R Ashwin, could create history in the next two months: Kohli and Ashwin are the only members of the Indian team from the 2011 World Cup winning squad, playing in the 2023 WC. There are only few players – from West Indies and Australia – who have won the ODI WC twice.
Kohli is also eyeing the record of Sachin Tendulkar in ODIs: Kohli is just two short of Tendulkar’s 49 ODI hundreds record. If he continues on the form he’s been on in the past year, there’s a good chance that he could break Tendulkar’s record in the World Cup itself.
Those angry celebrations are a thing of the past: Virat Kohli
However, things haven’t been as rosy for Kohli always as it’s been in the past year. From late 2020 to mid-2022, the Delhi-born player went through his worst career phase, where he had to wait, frustratingly for everyone, for 1020 days for his 71st century after having racked up his 70th ton in 2019.
As he got back to scoring centuries, one noticeable thing has been his subdued and calm celebrations, very much in contrast to his hyper-energetic and over-the-top celebrations when he was younger.
Speaking with the ICC on that period, Virat Kohli said: “The last two and a half years have taught me a lot. Those angry celebrations are a thing of the past. I have had many suggestions, lots of advice has come my way; people were telling me I was doing this wrong, that wrong.
“I picked out all the videos from the best time I had, same initial movement, same approach towards the ball and it was just what was happening inside my head, I wasn’t able to explain it to anyone,” he added.
In ODI World Cups, Kohli has scored 1030 runs in 26 innings at an average of 46 with 2 centuries and 6 fifties.
