Virat Kohli Should Not Play ODIs After ICC World Cup 2023, Says Shoaib Akhtar

Pakistan great Shoaib Akhtar has advised Virat Kohli to give up ODI cricket after the conclusion of the upcoming ICC World Cup 2023. The upcoming ODI World Cup will be Virat Kohli’s fourth edition of the tournament.

He first played in the tournament in 2011 and played a key role in India’s historic triumph at home. The right-handed batsman was also instrumental in India’s semifinal appearance at the 2015 World Cup and led the team to the semifinals in the 2019 World Cup. He is now gearing up for his fourth ODI World Cup and gunning to win it for the second time in his illustrious career.

Shoaib Akhtar talked about the former India skipper during a recent interaction with RevSportz. The former pacer was asked if Pakistan could end their winless run against India in the ODI World Cup.

When Shoaib Akhtar said that Pakistan have a good chance this year, he was told that Virat Kohli could spoil the party for the Men in Green and was reminded of the batting star’s monumental knock during the T20 World Cup clash between the two teams last year.

Recalling the game, Shoaib Akhtar said that the game was all bout Virat Kohli before saying that the star batsman should give up on playing ODIs after the World Cup and focus on Test cricket. The former tearaway pacer said that Kohli should focus on breaking Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 100 hundreds in international cricket after the World Cup.

“That match was all about Virat Kohli. The cricket Gods wanted to do it for him. He wasn’t in the best of form, and was facing a lot of heat from you guys in India. The media was after him. It was God’s way of telling him – this is your stage, come and become king again.

“If you see all that transpired – rain and a lot of it, 100,000 people, 1.3 billion Indians watching, 30 crore Pakistanis watching, the whole world in awe – the stage was set for Kohli. It was the greatest stage of all. When you add the two sixes he hit off Haris Rauf, that match gave him back his kingdom. I think it was all destined for him on that day at the MCG.

“While on Kohli, I don’t think he should play more 50-overs matches after this World Cup. Also, if you see him in T20s, it takes a lot out of him. I think he should play for at least six more years and break the 100 hundreds record of Sachin Tendulkar. Kohli has it in him to break the record. He should focus on Test cricket after this World Cup, and break this record,” said Shoaib Akhtar.

Shoaib Akhtar on Virat Kohli giving up captaincy:

Speaking further, Shoaib Akhtar also opined that giving up captaincy has freed up Kohli. The Pakistan great also stated that giving up captaincy was a good decision from Kohli. He then urged Kohli to follow Tendulkar’s career path and focus on scoring runs for Team India.

“Also, there was a lot of chat about him losing captaincy. I don’t read much into it. I actually think it has freed him up. Why did he start playing? He started his cricket to be like Sachin Tendulkar.

“He has become like Sachin. Scored loads of runs. Now, he should just continue to score runs for his team and win India more and more games. Losing captaincy is actually good for him as a batter, because the pressure of captaincy cripples you,” said Shoaib Akhtar.