'Virat Kohli fully ready for World Cup': Childhood coach backs legend after record-breaking ton in Vijay Hazare Trophy return

Virat Kohli is fully ready for the World Cup in 2027, believes his childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma as the India legend brought up another century in his return to Vijay Hazare Trophy after almost 15 years.

Kohli came back to play the Vijay Hazare Trophy for the first time since 2010 as Delhi took on Andhra Pradesh at the BCCI’s Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru on Wednesday in the opening day of India’s premier 50-over competition.

Kohli scored a brilliant 131 from only 101 balls to set up Delhi’s successful chase of 299. The 37-year-old slammed 12 fours and three sixes in his innings that helped him break Sachin Tendulkar’s record of the fastest batter to reach 16,000 List A runs. Sachin took 391 innings to reach the milestone while Kohli reached there in his 330th innings.

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‘Kohli full ready for World Cup’

Having retired from T20Is and Tests, Kohli only plays ODIs now with an eye on the 2027 Cricket World Cup. His decision to return to Vijay Hazare Trophy comes amid the backdrop of his World Cup dreams and BCCI’s diktat to focus on domestic cricket.

#WATCH | Rajkot, Gujarat | On Virat Kohli's return to the Vijay Hazare Trophy for Delhi and scoring a century against Andhra Pradesh, Virat Kohli's childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma says, "He is in brilliant form. He batted very well and ensured Delhi’s victory. He played domestic… pic.twitter.com/XXkY1nsaBr

— ANI (@ANI) December 24, 2025

Kohli came into the tournament after a Player of the Series award in the recent series against South Africa and has continued on his rich vein of form. His childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma said that Kohli remains fully ready to play in the World Cup.

“He is in brilliant form. He batted very well and ensured Delhi’s victory. He played domestic cricket after a long time, but still performed exceptionally well. He is the most consistent player in the Indian team and is fully ready for the World Cup,” Sharma told ANI.

Kohli came into bat in the very first over on Wednesday. He then stitched together two century stands to put Delhi in a commanding position. First, he put up a 113-run stand for the second wicket with opener Priyansh Arya and then an 160-run alliance for the third wicket with Nitish Rana.

Kohli was eventually dismissed for 131 with Delhi just 26 runs away from victory.