Former Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Akhtar has predicted Virat Kohli’s retirement from the shortest format of the game. Notably, his countryman Shahid Afridi recently made headlines when he commented on the same topic.
Afridi had said that Kohli should retire at the top of his game rather after being dropped from the national side. This obviously didn’t go well with many Indian fans and they heavily criticized the former cricketer.
Akhtar’s statement has now added to the fire as he feels that the former Indian skipper might hang up his boots from the T20Iformat after T20 World Cup in Australia this year. The former pacer feels that the decision will allow Kohli to extend his career in the longer formats of the game.
“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,” Akhtar told India.com.
Virat Kohli in T20Is
Virat Kohli, who was visibly struggling with the bat, recently found his rhyme back in the Asia Cup 2022 as he smashed 276 runs in five games, including his maiden T20I hundred. It will boost his confidence as well as benefit the Men in Blue ahead of the marquee event in October.
Though T20 cricket is not Kohli’s best format, he has still managed to pull out extraordinary numbers in the entertaining format. He has featured in 104 T20Is, scoring 3584 runs at an astonishing average of 51.9 and a strike-rate of 138.4.
It remains to be seen if Kohli would like to say goodbye to the T20Is or not. But keeping his fitness and numbers, it would not be wrong to continue playing all the formats. After all, he is still one of the best of the game.
