Virat Kohli’s retirement talk can wait. At least that is the message former New Zealand fast bowler Simon Doull delivered after watching the 37-year-old bat with what he described as “an air of youth” in the ODI series decider against New Zealand.
Doull’s assessment on JioHotstar leans on a familiar Kohli staple: elite fitness fuelling elite intent. With India gradually moving into their next ODI cycle through a transition phase. It is a reminder that Kohli’s edge hasn’t dulled.
Simon Doull feels Virat Kohli is still the fittest in Indian side
Doull praised the clarity of Kohli’s strokeplay, but spent just as much time admiring the work that doesn’t always show up in highlight packages – how he manipulates fields, steals singles, and keeps pressure on bowlers.
“Some of the shots were just crisp and clean. Beyond that, it is how he maneuvers the field and how he runs between the wickets. There is still an air of youth about him. Despite his age and experience, he’d probably still be the fittest guy on that side. That is professionalism,” Doull said.
He then went a step further, saying Kohli’s competitiveness remains the defining trait – the refusal to let a chase die even when the match seems gone, and the willingness to run just as hard for teammates for his own runs.
“The willingness to keep trying to win games, to drag your team back into the contest when they are so far behind, and to run as hard as he does, for his own runs and for his teammates. There’s so much to love about how he’s playing at the moment. May he stick around in international cricket until he’s 44 or 45 years old,” he added.
Notably, Virat Kohli’s 124 came in an unsuccessful chase of 338 in the third and final match of the ODI series between India and New Zealand. It was a knock that kept India breathing even when wickets fell at the other end. India were looking down the barrel and completely out of the match, but Kohli’s tempo and risk control ensured the chase stayed alive deep into the innings.
The broader frame is his run since October 2025. After returning with back-to-back ducks in Australia, Kohli has responded with 616 runs in nine matches, including three centuries and three fifties, the kind of streak that tends to shut down the “is it over for him?” noise.
Milestones keep arriving as well. Kohli has now 54 ODI Hundreds, five more than Sachin Tendulkar, and he has gone past Ricky Ponting’s 12,662 runs to become the leading ODI run-getter at no.3, strengthening the case that he remains a pillar of India’s ODI plans.
