Virat Kohli says he is preparing with 2027 in mind and has no doubts about whether he wants to be part of India’s next ODI World Cup campaign. The former India captain said his work is already aligned with the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2027, calling the idea of playing a World Cup for India “amazing.”
Kohli said he has been asked repeatedly whether he wants to play in 2027, but made clear that he is still committed to the format and to the demands it brings. “We’re in mid-2026. I have been asked many times, ‘Do you want to play in 2027?’ Why would I leave home, get my stuff over and be like ‘I don’t know what I want,’” he said, adding that if he is playing, he wants to keep playing cricket and carry on. He said he is being honest about his preparation and his approach, and that he puts his head down and works hard. He also said he feels “very blessed and grateful” to still have the opportunity to play, and that he would run “from boundary to boundary for 40 overs in an ODI game” without complaint because he prepares accordingly.
The comments matter because Kohli remains one of the central figures in India’s one-day side even after retiring from T20I cricket in 2024 and Test cricket in 2025. He recently played for Delhi in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, and his numbers in the format still place him among the game’s greats: 54 hundreds, 14,797 ODI runs, a batting average of 58.71 and a strike-rate of 93.82. He has already featured in four Men’s Cricket World Cups and was part of the India squad that won the title in 2011.
That record gives his latest remarks added weight, because the issue is no longer whether Kohli can still produce numbers, but how long he wants the pursuit to continue. He said the game now feels different to him, describing a “full circle” from pure enjoyment to goal after goal and then to the realization that numbers and achievements are not the real purpose. He said the sport should feel “in flow” with his love of the game, not something that only satisfies through milestones.
India’s next home ODI assignment is against Afghanistan in June, followed by three ODIs against England in July, and Kohli remains a mainstay in that setup. If his preparation stays “in full-sync” as he says, the next stretch of matches will show whether India is moving toward another World Cup cycle with one of its most established names still at the center of it.
