Kohli Vows to Play 2027 World Cup, Says 'Playing for India Is Amazing'

"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'. Of course, if I'm playing, I want to play cricket, I want to carry on. Playing a World Cup for India is amazing," said Kohli in an episode of the RCB podcast released on Friday.

Despite retiring from T20Is in 2024 and Test cricket in 2025, Kohli remains a vital figure in India's ODI setup. With 54 centuries and 14,797 runs in the format, Kohli is the second-highest run-getter in ODIs and has already featured in four World Cups, including the victorious 2011 campaign on home soil.

"Today, my perspective is very clear. If I can add value to the environment that I'm a part of and the environment feels like I can add value, I'll be seen. If I'm made to feel like I need to prove my worth and my value, I'm not in that space. Because I'm being honest with my preparation. I'm being honest to how I approach the game. I put my head down. I work hard.

"I'm very thankful to god for giving me everything that I've been given in my cricketing career. I feel very blessed and grateful for the opportunity. And when I arrive to play, I put my head down, I work as hard, if not harder, than anyone else. And I play the game the right way. You want me to run from boundary to boundary for 40 overs in an ODI game, I will do that without a complaint. Because I prepare accordingly.

"I prepare for the fact that I will field 50 overs every ball like it's the last ball I'm going to play in my career, and I will bat that way and I will run between the wickets that way, and I will do everything possible for the team. After operating like this, if I have to be in a place where I have to prove my worth and value, that place is not meant to be for me. And I am very clear in my head from that perspective," he elaborated.

Apart from playing for RCB in the IPL, Kohli featured for his state side, Delhi in the Vijay Hazare Trophy, where he made scores of 131 and 77. The right-handed batter has also scored three hundreds and as many fifties in his last seven ODI innings against New Zealand, South Africa and Australia.

"I'm at this stage in life, my career where I'm just doing things, even playing cricket, it gets to a stage which goes beyond numbers and achievements and all those kind of things.

"It's like a full circle feeling when you start off with just pure enjoyment of the game and then you set out with some goals in your mind and you achieve goal after goal and then through that whole journey you feel like 'Oh this is the big thing. But then you wake up the next morning, it's still going on, it's still not over.'

"I think the importance of achieving and numbers and all those kind of things, it acts as a motivation factor earlier, but the more you do it, the more you realize that it's actually not what your purpose is in the game. It's not fulfilling you in a way that's organic, which is in flow with you know the love of the game," he added.

India's next ODI assignment will be a home series against Afghanistan in June, with matches to be played in Dharamshala, Lucknow and Chennai. It will be followed by three ODIs against England in July, as preparations intensify ahead of the 2027 World Cup.

- IANS