Virat Kohli: India batter rules out T20 international comeback for 2028 LA Olympics

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”.

But when asked if he could be coaxed out of retirement to play at LA 2028 Kohli said “no”, though he joked that if India were playing for the gold medal he “may come back for one game, get a medal and come back home”.

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