The next big ICC trophy that India will eye to win is the ODI World Cup which is set to take place in 2027 in South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe. They will be looking to win the trophy that they last won in 2011, and narrowly missed out on in 2023. This will also be a big tournament for Virat Kohli, who is widely speculated to end his India career after the ODI World Cup. Kohli has already retired from the other two formats, and given the limited time he plays for India, there have been rumours time and again as to whether he will play the big tournament at all. His childhood coach, Rajkumar Sharma, has now given a blunt verdict on his chances of playing the ODI World Cup 2027.
Virat Kohli is India's highest run scorer in ODIs since the Champions Trophy 2025. He has scored 727 runs in 15 matches in this period at an average of 51.92, including two big hundreds. Citing this rich run of form, Rajkumar Sharma said that this should be enough to end speculations as to whether he would play the ODI World Cup 2027.
“I think you should see for yourself what he’s doing, what he has done in the last few matches, and how he is doing it on the field. So I think it should not be a discussion even,” Sharma said in an interaction with India Today.ALSO READ: AB de Villiers identifies Tilak Varma dilemma as India prepare for T20I series vs Afghanistan
'Virat has tremendous confidence in his own ability'
Speaking further Rajkumar Sharma revealed that Virat Kohli always had tremendous work ethic and confidence in his own ability, and that is why he has achieved incredible things in cricket.
{{/usCountry}}Speaking further Rajkumar Sharma revealed that Virat Kohli always had tremendous work ethic and confidence in his own ability, and that is why he has achieved incredible things in cricket.
{{/usCountry}}“He had tremendous confidence in his own ability, and he works really hard. He’s got tremendous work ethics,” Rajkumar Sharma said.
“Yeah, he was a God-gifted guy. I mean, God has made him for cricket and the work ethics he had were simply brilliant, and that is why he became such a big player," he added.
Rajkumar Sharma has been part of Virat Kohli' journey right from the beginning. In fact, in an emotional revelation, his childhood coach said that when Virat became the India captain he had confided to him that he never thought he would accomplish such a big achievement.
“We talk among ourselves also. When he became the captain, he said he never thought of it, that we’ll be there. So, I mean, it is a nostalgic moment. We always remember those.”