Kohli has won one World Cup in four attempts, and he says 2027 will be his last

“For me, it’s the last World Cup I’m going to play for India. That is my motivation.” Kohli did not leave much room for doubt when he spoke to broadcaster JioStar before the series opener. The goal, he said, was “absolutely to win the World Cup, and whatever it takes, I’m absolutely ready.”

He turns 38 in November, and the 2027 tournament in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia is 12 months away. It is not a retirement announcement. He did not say when he would stop playing ODIs, only which World Cup would be his last. But for a player who has already walked away from T20Is and Tests, the 50-over game is all that is left, and he has now put an end date on the part of it he cares about most.

Four World Cups, one title

Kohli was 22 when India won in 2011. He has been to three more since, and none of them ended with a trophy: a semi-final exit to Australia in 2015, another to New Zealand in 2019, and the home final against Australia in Ahmedabad in 2023.

That last one is the tournament people will remember him for, even without the medal. He made 765 runs, the most anyone has scored at a single World Cup, and his 50th ODI hundred came in the semi-final against New Zealand at the Wankhede. Across the four tournaments he has 1,795 World Cup runs in 37 matches at an average of 59.83.

“The intensity of a 50-over World Cup is greater than anything,” he said. Coming from someone who has lifted the T20 World Cup and captained India in 68 Tests, that is a fair measure of what the 2027 event means to him.

One format, and a year to get there

Kohli retired from T20Is straight after the 2024 T20 World Cup final in Barbados, where he top-scored with 76. He gave up Test cricket in May 2025. That leaves the ODI side, where he has 14,941 runs and 54 centuries from 314 matches. Another 59 runs would make him only the second man to reach 15,000, after Sachin Tendulkar.

The West Indies series is where the long run-in starts. India play three ODIs and five T20Is against them, and the three 50-over games run through Thiruvananthapuram, Guwahati and New Chandigarh. Kohli’s last ODI was at Lord’s on 19 July, where he made 74 and England still won by 27 runs.

Why saying it out loud helps

There has been a question hanging over Kohli and Rohit Sharma for the best part of two years: would they still be around in 2027? Kohli has answered his half of it. He plans to be there, and he plans for it to be the end.

That is useful for the selectors as much as for him. It gives them a date to plan around rather than a guessing game, and it tells the younger batters competing for the top-order spots exactly how long the wait is. For Kohli, it turns the next 12 months into one long build-up to a single tournament, which is how he seems to want it.

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