3 Reasons why Virat Kohli should retire from ODIs

The Indian batting stalwart Virat Kohli announced his retirement from the longest format of the game. Moreover, he had bid adieu to the shortest format of the game after winning the T20 World Cup in 2024.

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With Team India bagging the ICC Champions Trophy 2025 title in Dubai, there were many reports on Kohli retiring from the one-day format. However, he chose to continue until the ICC ODI World Cup in 2027.

His decision not to quit the 50-over format could be because of the Indian team’s loss to the Australian team in the ICC ODI World Cup 2023 final at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.

While Kohli has won four ICC trophies already, is this the time for him to retire from the one-day format and give chances to the youngsters, who are in the queue? Let’s take a look at three reasons why the Indian talismanic batter Virat Kohli should retire from ODI cricket.

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Here are the 3 reasons why Virat Kohli should retire from ODIs

1. Promising results in the future?

The Indian talismanic batter had an impressive ICC Champions Trophy 2025 campaign, scoring 218 runs with one century and a fifty, propelling the side to the title victory. However, he entered the campaign with not so promising numbers.

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Prior to the ICC competition, Kohli played three ODIs against England, scoring 57 runs from two innings. Before that, he scored only 58 runs from three ODIs with his best score being only 24 runs against Sri Lanka.

With Team India scheduled to play six ODIs in 2025 - three against Bangladesh in August and three against South Africa at home, the selection committee would be having a clear watch on Kohli’s performances as he needs to put up promising knocks to be a part of the XI until the ICC mega event in 2027.

2. Weakness against leg-spin

While Kohli has the weakness of poking outside off-stump balls in the longest format of the game, he has the biggest weakness of facing leg-spinners in the white-ball formats as his numbers aren’t promising against leg-spin.

Kohli was dismissed against leg-spin 23 times in ODIs. Interestingly, the leg-spin has accounted for 9.43% of his 244 dismissals. Since 2024, he has been dismissed against the leg-spinners 6 times, scoring only 72 runs in seven innings.

Prior to the ICC Champions Trophy, Kohli struggled to score runs against Adil Rashid in the England ODI series. In the showpiece event, he faced issues against Pakistan’s Abrar Ahmed in the league stage. With the constant struggles against leg-spin, Kohli needs to overcome the weakness or bid adieu to the format. 

3. Young batters in the queue

Virat Kohli has been an experienced batter at No.3 for Team India. Since Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid’s exit from the One Day format, Kohli has been groomed to put up promising scores in their batting positions.

With Kohli nearing his last stage of the career, he needs to groom batters like Ruturaj Gaikwad and Tilak Varma to take up his spot and help India overcome the transition period ahead of the ICC ODI World Cup in 2027.

With not many ODIs lined up in the upcoming two calendar years, it would be interesting to see how Kohli stays fit to play only one format while being away from Tests and T20Is.

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