ICC T20 World Cup 2022: "Virat Kohli Could Retire After T20 World Cup" - Shoaib Akhtar Makes Bold Prediction

Former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar believes Virat Kohli, who has played 104 T20Is, will retire from the shortest format after the World Cup in Australia.

Kohli has played India in over 100 games across all three formats, with 104 appearances in T20Is being the most recent.

Virat Kohli finally broke his dry spell after two years of relative silence in the just finished Asia Cup, when he also hammered the elusive 71st international century of his career. With 276 runs from five games, including a century and two half-centuries, Kohli concluded the tournament as the second-highest run scorer.

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Kohli would be looking to achieve the same or perhaps better results in Australia as the T20 World Cup approaches. After losing to New Zealand and Pakistan in the group round, The Men In Blue suffered one of their poorest performances in the competition last year in the UAE, failing to advance to the semifinals. The team, promoted by Kohli, will try to redeem themselves this time and give India their second T20 World Cup victory after a successful run under MS Dhoni in the 2007 inaugural tournament.

Virat Kohli might just take retirement after the T20 WC: Shoaib Akhtar

While the World Cup, which begins on October 16, is the main topic of conversation, former Pakistani speedster Shoaib Akhtar claimed that after the World Cup, Kohli would think about quitting the shorter format.

“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 said a LIVE session hosted by India.com.

If we only look at his T20I appearances, Kohli has already played 104 games for India in over 100 matches across all three forms. In the shortest formats of international contests, Kohli has amassed 3584 runs while batting at a 51.94 batting average.

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