Former India captain Virat Kohli roared back to form on Sunday as he hit his 51st international ODI centruy againt arch rivals Pakistan during a Champions Trophy 2025 match. After the century Kohli has received piles of support from former Indian cricketer Navjot Singh Siddhu who said that the batsman will play for the next 2-3 years and score at least 10-15 more centuries, essentially setting the veteran batter up for the 2027 ODI World Cup.
Navjot Singh Siddhu backs Kohli to play for 2-3 more years:
Speaking to JioHotstar, Sidhu said, “Character is not made in a crisis, it is exhibited. This is a man (Virat Kohli) with pedigree, with passion. And after this 100, I can say it with conviction that this man is playing for the next 2 or 3 years and he is getting another 10 to 15 hundreds. That, you take it from me. Because, you see, the ultimate litmus test for anyone is how he goes through the adverse times, how he embraces adversity. Last six months, there has been so much going on that he chose his moment. When he scored runs against Pakistan, people are not going to forget it for 10 years,”
Meanwhile, Siddhu also delved into Kohli’s trademark shot, the cover drive, stating that when he hits the shot with the elegance that he did on Sunday one knows that the ‘Virat Kohli of old’ is back.
Sidhu said, “Look, when you assess Virat Kohli, what is his trademark? If I look at Sachin Tendulkar, it was always the back foot punch that he would give. Look at Gavaskar, the straight drive. When you look at Virat Kohli, it’s the cover drive. And when he gets his head on top of the ball and he’s cover driving beautifully, you know he’s back. If you look at the initial part of his innings, if you look at these drives, you know that this is the Virat Kohli of old,”
Notably, Kohli had announced his retirement from T20I cricket after last year’s India victory in the shortest format of the game. Since then the veteran batter has only played ODI and Test match cricket where has struggled to get runs, barring a century he made in Australia. However, with the 100 run innings (off 111 balls) against Pakistan at a tough Dubai pitch, Kohli will hope that he has answered his critics for a good period of time.
