‘Ready to take on the world’: Virat Kohli predicts big ‘eight years’ after India's Champions Trophy win
Virat Kohli spoke about the young talent in India's team, and predicted dominance from this unit for the next 8 years.
Virat Kohli joined the list of the most successful cricket players of all time in terms of his trophy list, adding a fourth to his tally as his efforts and performances throughout the ICC Champions Trophy helping India to the title with a four-wicket victory on Sunday.
At 36-years-old, Kohli has been the most popular central figure for India cricket for over a decade now, and has stepped into the role of a leader or mentor type figure in recent years.
However, despite some ageing members in the Indian team, Kohli warned that this unit has no intentions of stopping here, claiming in a post-match interview that India could sit atop the mountain of the best white ball sides in the world for at least 8 more years.
"When you leave, you want to leave the team in a better place, I feel we've a squad that's ready to take on the world for the next eight years," said Kohli after the winning runs were hit, before going on to name some of his teammates he can see carrying the baton forward: "Shubman [Gill] has been outstanding, Shreyas [Iyer] beautiful, KL [Rahul] has finished games, and Hardik [Pandya] has been superb with the bat."
While there were some rumours regarding Rohit Sharma and Kohli potentially hanging up the boots after this trophy win, similar to how they did for T20I cricket after last year’s World Cup, no such announcements were made. The two batting greats might have their eye on the 2027 ODI World Cup in South Africa now.
"There's so much talent in the dressing room," continued Kohli. "They're trying to take their game further and we [seniors] are just happy to be of help, sharing our experience and that's what makes this Indian team so strong.”
Virat Kohli lauds teammates for responsibility shown
India have had a perfect mix of young talent and experience in their squad in the last two or three years, which has made them this formidable unit that has won 22 of their 23 ICC tournament games since the 2023 World Cup. With players such as Yashasvi Jaiswal and Arshdeep Singh in the tank, there is also more youth to rely on going forward.
"These are the things you want to play for [titles], playing under pressure and putting your hand up. The whole team, everyone has put their hands up sometimes or other during the course of the tournament,” concluded Kohli, who was integral to India’s campaign with a century against Pakistan and a winning 84 against Australia in the semifinal chase.
“Everyone has put up impactful performances, we've been part of an amazing team, the amount of work we've done in the practice sessions, it feels great,” finished the Indian legend. After a short break, Kohli will be back for the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the end of March to begin his hunt for an elusive IPL trophy to complete his collection.
