Could Virat Kohli make a possible retirement U-turn and play in the 2028 Olympics, set to be hosted in Los Angeles? Speaking at the RCB Innovation Lab Indian Sports Summit on Saturday, March 15, Virat opened up on his plans after giving up the game, and how playing in the Olympics was a tempting idea.
The senior India batter retired from the T20I format of the game after winning the T20 World Cup 2024. Alongside Virat, Rohit Sharma and Ravindra Jadeja had announced their retirements as well.
Asked about his plans after giving up the game, Kohli said that he might travel more in his free time but did not exactly know how things would pan out.
“I actually don’t know what I will be doing post-retirement. Recently, I asked a teammate the same question and got the same reply. Yeah, but there may be a lot of travelling,” Virat Kohli said at the RCB Innovation Lab Indian Sports Summit on Saturday, March 15.
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Virat Kohli to Participate in the Olympics?
Kohli was being interviewed at the summit by former cricketer Isa Guha, who asked the batter if he would be interested in playing in the LA Olympics, which will host cricket for the first time in more than 100 years. Cricket will be played in the T20I format in LA, with the first Olympic medal up for grabs for this generation of players.
Speaking on the matter, Kohli joked that he would return only on one condition if India were playing in the gold medal match in the Olympics.
Here’s how Kohli’s chat went with Isa Guha:
Virat Kohli on cricket’s inclusion in the Olympics:
“So many T20 leagues are played all over the world, and I think that IPL has definitely played a massive role in that as well. It has brought cricket to a stage where it is part of the Olympics. It’s a great opportunity for some of our guys.”
Isa Guha:
“Can’t we coax you out of retirement?”
Virat Kohli:
“No. For the Olympics? Maybe? If we are playing for the gold medal, I may come back for one game (laughs). Get a medal and come back home. It is a great thing. To be an Olympic champion would be a magnificent feeling, the first of its kind.”
Kohli on India’s Sporting Culture
The RCB player also opened up on the state of sports in India. Kohli put special focus on women’s sport and said that women’s cricket had been its own catalyst for the last 6-7 years.
“They were their own catalysts and kind of put the attention onto them. I literally saw it happening like in a time span of 6-7 years. The way they started playing, you could see that belief and then people started engaging in that a lot. And eventually it got to a place where, you know, the commercials became better, money was being infused into the women’s game, and then you have the WPL,” Virat Kohli commented.
“Looking at men for the improvement of sport in any country, it has to be a collective. Sports culture includes everyone, and women’s sport is a massive part of it and we have so much data in women’s sports, not just cricket but all the others. We are creating individual activities over the year in tennis, badminton, wrestling, boxing. So, I think it’s definitely heading in the right direction and it needs more backing and more and more infrastructure to be developed,” Virat Kohli shared.
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