 "Virat Kohli will be making his first international appearance in the upcoming tour of Australia since helping India win the ICC Champions Trophy in March. Image: PTI")
Virat Kohli posted a cryptic tweet on Thursday, just three days before he makes his first appearance for the Indian team in seven months.
Both Kohli and Rohit Sharma will be representing India for the first time since they played a central role in helping the Men in Blue win the ICC Champions Trophy, the latter as captain. It will also be their first appearance in international cricket since Rohit and Kohli announced their retirement from Test cricket within a few days of one another in May – less than a year after they bid Twenty20 Internationals goodbye.
And a day after boarding the flight to Australia along with Rohit and Shubman Gill – who is set to lead India for the first time in the ODI format – Kohli wrote a post on X in which he hinted towards the fact that he’s far from done as far as playing for the country is concerned.
Kohli posts defiant message on X ahead of comeback in Australia
“The only time you truly fail, is when you decide to give up,” Kohli, who was India’s captain across formats until 2021, wrote on X on Thursday.
The batting icon, who had surpassed Sachin Tendulkar’s record for most centuries in ODI cricket during the 2023 World Cup and is currently the third-highest run-scorer (14,181) in the format, received several messages of support in reply:
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe post later turned out to be part of a promotional campaign for his brand ‘Wrogn’, which was launched ahead of the tour of Australia.
“Failure teaches you what victory never will. @staywrogn,” Kohli wrote in a reply to his original post.
The timing of the post, however, cannot be a mere coincident. After all, it comes at a time when there are doubts over the two stalwarts’ place in India’s plans for the 2027 ICC World Cup, which will now be helmed by newly-appointed captain Gill and head coach Gautam Gambhir.
Rohit had recently been removed as skipper during chief selector Ajit Agarkar’s announcement of India’s squad, which highlighted the fact that neither the ‘Hitman’ nor Kohli are indispensable in the ODI format – which had been the case for more than a decade.
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Kohli’s post, however, makes it clear that he will not be giving up on his dream of lifting the ICC World Cup – cricket’s biggest prize in South Africa two years fro now.
And given the fact that Kohli was part of the 2011 World Cup-winning team led by MS Dhoni and Rohit is yet to lift cricket’s most prestigious prize, it can safely be assumed that the latter will have a similar drive for the next couple of years.
Both Rohit and Kohli are in the twilight of their careers – while the former will be 40 by the next World Cup, Kohli will be touching 39. And with neither in a leadership role at present, they will have to score runs aplenty in order to preserve themselves at the top of the order – as Gill’s opening partner and at the No 3 slot respectively.