After Shahid Afridi, now Shoaib Akhtar predicts when Virat Kohli may RETIRE, says THIS

Former India captain Virat Kohli silenced his critics, scoring his 71st international century – his maiden T20I ton – against Afghanistan in India’s final Super 4 match of the Asia Cup 2022 last week. However, former Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi has already started predicting Kohli’s retirement date and he was joined in this by former Pakistan pacer Shoaib Akhtar as well.

During a LIVE session over the course of the Asia Cup 2022, Akhtar revealed that Kohli – who has played 104 T20I games – may retire from the shortest format after the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia next month.

“Kohli might just take retirement after the T20 World Cup. He may do that to extend his longevity in the other formats. If I was him I would have looked at the larger picture and taken a call,” Shoaib said during the LIVE session.

Kohli will be a key player for India in the upcoming T20 WC as he has a lot of experience playing on Australian wickets. Meanwhile, Pakistan lost to Sri Lanka in the Asia Cup final by 23 runs. The Babar Azam-led side faced flak from Akhtar. The ex-pacer slammed Mohammed Rizwan for not being able to finish games for the side.

“Are we playing the wrong team time and again? There are question marks on Mohammad Rizwan because he can’t finish the game, he needs support from others. He played run-a-ball innings and after that, if he is not able to finish the match, then it is going to be a problem. So I think Pakistan has played very bad cricket, they should have batted first after winning the toss. Don’t know what was their plan,” he said on his YouTube channel.

Former India leg-spinner Amit Mishra has slammed ex-Pakistan captain Shahid Afridi, who tried to give retirement advice to Virat Kohli. Afridi has tried to suggest to Kohli, who scored his 71st international century last week, that the former India captain should try to retire on a high.

Mishra, commenting on Zee News English story on Twitter, wrote, “Dear Afridi, some people retire only once so please spare Virat Kohli from all this.”

Dear Afridi, some people retire only once so please spare Virat Kohli from all this. https://t.co/PHlH1PJh2r — Amit Mishra (@MishiAmit) September 13, 2022

Afridi, meanwhile, had tried to suggest that Kohli is headed towards retirement. “The way Virat has played, the start that he had to his career, there was struggle initially before he made a name for himself. He is a champion and I believe there comes a stage when you are headed towards retirement. But in that scenario, the aim should be to go out on a high,” Afridi said on Samaa TV.

“It shouldn't reach a stage where you are dropped from the team and instead when you are at your peak. It seldom happens though. Very few players, especially cricketers from Asia make that decision, but I feel when Virat does it, he will do it style and probably in the same manner in which he started his career,” the former all-rounder added.