Virat Kohli has set off a flurry of worry among fans following a recent photo of the Indian cricket legend that went online on Friday.
The photo in London with a person named Shash Patel got instant attention on social media — not for who Kohli was standing with, but for how much grayer his beard had turned.
The transformation left everyone shocked, with some saying the 36-year-old, about to turn 37, looked nearly unrecognizable.
The response is within a fortnight of Kohli's last public outing, when he had been to Yuvraj Singh's party on July 10. That was the time when Kohli had briefly spoken about his retirement from Test cricket. Keeping it light, so to say, he had joked, "I just coloured my beard two days ago. You know it's time when you are colouring your beard every four days."
The remark, originally taken facetiously and applied extensively to memes, now appears to hold greater appeal for fans who've witnessed the natural greys emerge.
This is not the first time Kohli’s silver strands have caught the public eye. In July 2023, a photo he shared with wife Anushka Sharma drew more attention to his whitening beard than the post’s subject itself. Much like MS Dhoni, Kohli began greying relatively early — something often attributed to the immense pressure and mental toll of captaining the Indian cricket team.
When Kohli resigned as India's Test captain in early 2022, Anushka remembered it fondly in an emotional post, bringing back memories of saying, "I remember MS [Dhoni], you and I having a chat and him making a joke of how fast your beard will go grey. We all had a good laugh about it. Since the day, I've noticed more than just your beard getting grey. I've seen growth; massive growth."
Kohli had already retired from T20I cricket in 2024 after assisting India win the T20 World Cup in the West Indies — a decision anticipated by everyone. Nobody anticipated his retirement from Tests, though, when he made a surprise declaration on May 12 this year just days ahead of India's team for the tour of England being picked. That marked the conclusion of an outstanding 14-year Test career.
Although Kohli was set to return on the field this month, the delay in India's tour of Bangladesh has pushed back his comeback. He will presumably join the national team in October for the Australian limited-overs series comprising three ODIs and five T20Is.
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