Updated on: Dec 18, 2025 05:10 pm IST
The Indian team should set the stage for Virat Kohli at the 2027 World Cup, similar to how the 2011 batch did for Sachin Tendulkar, says the IPL chairman.
Virat Kohli is coming for that World Cup, and let no one convince you otherwise. He may have retired from Test cricket, he may no longer play cricket as much as he used to, he may not have an international career spanning more than 22 months, but boy, the hunger hasn’t diminished. Donkey’s years ago, he won the World Cup in his very first attempt, but the next 10 years were full of heartbreaks. Kohli finally ended the hoodoo in 2024, but a 50-overs World Cup trophy remains to be lifted, along with his partner in crime, Rohit Sharma.
“Look at Virat Kohli’s performance across Tests, ODIs and T20Is over the last decade. The way the Indian team played together and won the World Cup for Sachin Tendulkar, given Virat Kohli’s significant contribution not only to Indian but also to world cricket, this Indian team should do the same for him at the 2027 World Cup,” IPL chairman Arun Dhumal told veteran sports journalist Vimal Kumar during an interaction on his YouTube channel.
Who can forget the night of April 2, 2011, when grown men cried uncontrollably as MS Dhoni’s team won the World Cup, after 28 years. In what was the legendary Sachin Tendulkar’s sixth and last World Cup, a young Kohli was one of the many who carried the Master Blaster on his shoulders and later uttered these golden lines: “He’s carried the burden of the nation for 21 years, it was time we carried him”
Same goes for Rohit Sharma, says Dhumal
By the time the 2027 World Cup comes knocking, Kohli will be closing in on 40 and have completed 18 years of international cricket. And if he can continue to be in the same vein of form as he was in the home ODI series against South Africa – hammering over 300 runs in three matches – nothing can stop him. Dhumal says the same goes for Rohit, who showed the gall to reinvent himself late in his career. At a time when cricketers start thinking of a life beyond cricket, Rohit was evolving his game.
“Even Rohit Sharma. It took him time to become an integral part of the Test team, but once he took over captaincy, the kind of performance he has given has been phenomenal. And as far as white-ball cricket goes, he’s been a rockstar. I feel as long as they want to play and play the way they are right not, no question should be asked about their future,” added Dhumal.
