- Monday, March 10, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
Star India batter Virat Kohli recently hit back form after a long hiatus and ended as the second highest scorer in the Asia Cup which concluded last weekend. The 33-year-old even slammed a hundred, his first in the T20 format, besides two fifties in the competition. He is now ready to make an even bigger statement in the upcoming T20 World Cup in Australia starting next month.
Amid the growing hope around Kohli, former Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Akhtar has made a prediction that would leave Kohli’s millions of fans shocked. The former speedster said that the Indian batter might consider quitting the shorter format after the marquee event.
“Kohli might just take retirement after the T20 World Cup. He may do that to extend his longevity in the other formats. If I was him I would have looked at the larger picture and taken a call,” the 47-year-old Akhtar, who is known for expressing opinions on Indian cricket, said during a LIVE session hosted by India.com.
Kohli, who played more than 100 matches in all three formats of the game, is one of the few batters to have slammed a century across all of them. He has scored 3,854 runs in the shortest format at a healthy average of almost 52.
Former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi, who once played alongside Akhtar, also weighed in on the prospect of Kohli’s future plans recently.
Lauding the ace batter, he said that he expects the former to go out on a high when the time comes instead of remaining as a pale shadow of his dominating self.
