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Saturday April 26, 2025

Kohli rules out T20 comeback for LA 2028 Olympics

By AFP
March 16, 2025
Indian batter and former captain Virat Kohli. — X@imVkohli/File
Indian batter and former captain Virat Kohli. — X@imVkohli/File

BENGALURU: India batter Virat Kohli has ruled out a T20 international comeback at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.

Cricket will return to the Olympics for the first time since 1900 at the Games in LA as one of five new sports.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has said the tournament will be a T20 event but has yet to confirm how teams will qualify.

However, organisers have been keen to utilise cricket as a way to increase India’s interest in the Olympics given the commercial opportunities, and their participation would seem extremely likely.

Kohli retired from T20 duty with India after they won the World Cup in 2024, but will continue to play the format domestically in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The 36-year-old said at a sports summit in conjunction with his IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bengaluru that cricket at the Olympics was a “great opportunity for some of our guys”.

Kohli played 125 T20s for India, scoring 4,188 runs at an average of 48.69, hitting one century and 38 half-centuries.