Former India cricketer Suresh Raina feels that Virat Kohli stopped playing T20 internationals a bit too soon. According to Raina, Kohli still had it in him to play until the 2026 T20 World Cup, especially since it’s going to be held in the subcontinent. Raina shared this thought after watching Kohli play a brilliant innings of 70 runs off just 42 balls against the Rajasthan Royals at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Thursday.
Raina also said that Kohli still had a lot to offer and could have kept playing at the top level. He pointed out that Kohli finished his T20I career on a perfect note by helping India win the 2024 T20 World Cup in Barbados.
“I still think that Virat Kohli retired early from T20I cricket. He could have played until 2026, based on the rhythm with which he is playing right now, and the rhythm during the 2025 Champions Trophy as well. The way he has maintained his fitness, he looks like he is at his peak still,” Raina said on Star Sports.
Virat Kohli: A Glorious Farewell to a T20 Legend
The 35-year-old played a brilliant match in the final and ended his career on a high. He finished with 125 T20 internationals, scoring 4,188 runs at an impressive average of 48.69. Along the way, he hit one century and 38 half-centuries, and played many important innings that helped shape India’s success in T20 cricket over the years.
A true giant in World Cup history, Kohli remains the leading run-scorer in T20 World Cup history with 1,292 runs. He also holds the record for most runs in a single edition (319 in 2014) and most 50-plus scores (15). Over the course of his career, he featured in six T20 World Cups. As India gets ready to defend their T20 World Cup title next year with a young team, the absence of experienced players like Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma, and Ravindra Jadeja will surely be felt by fans and the squad alike.
Virat Kohli played a stylish knock of 70 runs against the Rajasthan Royals on a tough pitch, helping Royal Challengers Bengaluru. With this innings, he jumped from eighth to second place in the Orange Cap race. Kohli now has five fifties and a total of 392 runs from nine matches, just behind Gujarat Titans’ Sai Sudharsan, who has scored 417 runs in eight games.
In a truly remarkable moment, Virat Kohli has become the first player in IPL history to score more than 3,500 runs at a single ground the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium. This milestone adds yet another chapter to his incredible legacy and shows just how special he is to both the game and the fans.
