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'The man is serious about wanting to play World Cup': RCB mentor Dinesh Karthik reveals how much Virat Kohli practised in London during 'big layoff'

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'The man is serious about wanting to play World Cup': RCB mentor Dinesh Karthik reveals how much Virat Kohli practised in London during 'big layoff'
Royal Challengers Bengaluru's Virat Kohli and batting coach Dinesh Karthik during a training session at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata, India, on March 20, 2025.

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Virat Kohli will play his first competitive match in over four and a half months.

Dinesh Karthik feels Virat Kohli will perform better under pressure.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) mentor and batting coach Dinesh Karthik said that Virat Kohli is serious about wanting to play in the 2027 edition of the ODI World Cup. There have been rumours floating around the Australia tour being Kohli and Rohit Sharma’s last of their international career. However, Karthik feels that Kohli has been training in London and batting in the nets two to three times a week. 

“In London, he was training during this big layoff that he's had after a long time in his life. And I also know he was practising cricket easily, two to three sessions a week,” Karthik said in a video he posted on Instagram. 

 

 

“That tells you the man is serious about wanting to play this World Cup,” Karthik added.

 

 

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A post shared by Dinesh Karthik (@dk00019)

Kohli hasn’t played international cricket since ICC Champions Trophy 2025. His last competitive appearance was in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 final against Punjab Kings on June 3, 2025. But Karthik isn’t worried about lack of game time for the former India captain. He backs him to perform under pressure. 

“And if he is around, there is no tension, according to me, because he knows what it takes to perform under pressure. And he's done that time and time again. And I'm very confident he will do it again,” Karthik said. 

 

 

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Team India reached Australia on October 16 for the limited-overs series. The ODI series will begin on October 19 at Perth Stadium, the last venue where Kohli scored a Test century. 

Kohli has a good ODI record in Australia. From 29 ODIs, he has 1,327 runs at an average of 51.03, featuring five centuries and six fifties.

Kohli nearing another milestone 

Meanwhile, Kohli needs 54 more runs to become the second-highest run-scorer in ODI history. He will leave behind former Sri Lanka captain Kumar Sangakkara who has 14,234 runs from 404 ODIs. Kohli has scored 14,181 runs from 302 ODIs so far at an average of 57.88, featuring 51 centuries and 74 fifties. No batter with 5,000 or more ODI runs has a better average than Kohli. Also, he holds the record for most centuries in ODIs.