India’s ace batsman Virat Kohli has ended all speculation regarding his retirement, assuring that he has no intention of hanging up his boots from international cricket in the near future. His assurance came just after India won their third ICC Champions Trophy title with a nail-biting four-wicket win over New Zealand in the final on Sunday.
Speaking to Simon Doull in the post-match presentation, Virat Kohli made it clear that he would only consider stepping down once he feels that the next generation of players is fully prepared to take over and carry Indian cricket forward.
Vision of Virat Kohli for the Future
Though the retirement question was not posed directly, erstwhile New Zealand pacer Simon Doull had said that whenever Virat Kohli chooses to hang up his boots, he will be leaving the team in good hands. Reacting to this, Kohli had stated,
“Oh, definitely. I mean, you know, I, as Shubman mentioned, I try to talk to these guys as much as I can, try to impart my experience, how I’ve managed to play for so long, try to fill in wherever I can to help make their games better and yeah, it’s only, as they rightfully say, when you depart, you want to leave the place in a better position.”
Virat Kohli added further to the confidence in India’s new-age cricketers, saying,
“That’s our attempt, you see, that’s what we’re working for—that when finally we are finished at whatever level, we have a team which is going to conquer the world for the next 8-10 years, and these lads certainly have the ability to do the same and also game perception. They’ve risen already, so many telling innings. This lad’s played Shreyas, gorgeous, KL’s finished games, so Hardik’s a game-changer.”
India’s Comeback After Australia Tour
Recalling India’s journey in the run-up to the Champions Trophy 2025, Virat Kohli announced that the team was eager to make a comeback after a disappointing Border-Gavaskar Trophy against Australia, in which they lost 1-3 series.
Firstly, we needed to bounce back from a disappointing Australia tour, wanted to win a major tournament and we managed to do that. So, it’s a great feeling, nice playing with a group of such incredible youngsters, so much talent in the change room and, you know, they’re taking Indian cricket in the right direction,” he added.
He also thanked the older players for supporting them in guiding the younger ones, saying,
“We’re only happy to help, you know, share our experience and try to make an impact whenever we get a chance. These guys are stepping up in a massive way and that’s why we are such a strong team.”
Kohli’s Performance in Champions Trophy 2025
Though Kohli couldn’t make any contribution to the final, having scored only 1 run off two balls, he had a great campaign otherwise. In five games, he scored 218 runs, including a century and a half-century, and established himself as one of India’s prominent players of the tournament.
I believe in order to win titles, what has lacked earlier, the whole team has got to raise its hand in individual games and if you look at this tournament as a five-game tournament, then everybody has stuck their hand up somewhere or other and that is why we happened to win this tournament,” said Kohli.
He praised the efforts of the entire team, further saying,
People have made such influential knocks, such influential spells and it’s only a team effort that can win you a title and I’m just so delighted that we were able to play as a team, just really enjoy ourselves.”
With Kohli reiterating his dedication to Indian cricket, fans can anticipate the veteran batsman to continue making meaningful contributions as the side gears up for future challenges at the international stage.