INDIA: On November 5, 1988, a boy named Virat Kohli was born in Delhi who is now considered a cricketing legend across the globe. Kohli will be celebrating his 34th birthday on 5th November this year.
Currently, the ex-Indian skipper is playing in the T20 World Cup in India, where he is the leading run-scorer. His fantastic innings against Pakistan will remain etched in everyone’s hearts forever. Kohli’s fans expect his excellent form to continue so that India can win their second T20 world cup. On his special day, let’s take a look at his transformation from Virat Kohli to King Kohli.
Early life
Virat Kohli was born and brought up in Delhi. He lived with his mother, father (who was a criminal lawyer) an elder brother, and sister. He did his schooling at Vishal Bharti Public School.
His first cricket encounter took place at West Delhi Cricket Academy when he was just 9 years old. Soon, everyone around him knew that this talented guy was destined to do something big.
Talking about his early cricketing career, Kohli played exceptionally in Polly Umrigar Trophy (U-15), and Vijay Merchant Trophy (U-17) tournaments.
In February 2006, Kohli played his first List A match against services. However, he did not get a chance to bat in that match.
At the age of 18, Kohli made his debut in first-class cricket in November 2006. When his father died in December 2006, he was playing in a tournament. Instead of going back home, he still continued to play the match against Karnataka. After getting out on 90 runs, he rushed to his father’s funeral.
Under -19 (U-19) World Cup
Kohli was chosen for the India U-19 cricket tournament, which was played in England in July 2006. In the three-match ODI series against England U-19s and the three-match Test series, he averaged 105 and 49, respectively. India U-19 ultimately won both the series. The team then visited Pakistan in September. In the Test series and the ODI series, Kohli averaged 58 and 41.66, respectively, against Pakistan.
Considering his fantastic performance in the India U-19 matches, Kohli became the Indian U-19 captain. In 2008, he led his team to victory in the U-19 world cup tournament held in Malaysia.
He finished the tournament as the third-highest run-scorer and one of the three batters to score a hundred runs while batting at no.3. Kohli scored 235 runs in six matches.
International cricket
19-year-old Kohli became a member of the Indian ODI team during the tour of Sri Lanka and the Champions Trophy in Pakistan in August 2008. Since Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag, the two preferred openers, were both injured during the Sri Lankan tour, Kohli batted as a replacement opener for the entire series.
The transition from Virat Kohli to King Kohli
In 2011 he was part of the World Cup-winning Indian team, and he also made some significant contributions to the team. He played many good innings before the year 2011 and continued to maintain his form.
But 2014 to 2016 proved to be his golden year, as he was at his best. In the India tour of Australia in 2014, Kohli scored 4 Century in 4 test matches and scored a staggering 692 runs in the series. He thus became the top run scorer in a series among Indian batters against Australia.
Although India could not win the World Cup in 2015, Kohli played his part pretty well. In 2016, Kohli made a record-breaking 973 runs in a single IPL season and made 4 centuries in the same series. Until now, no one has scored 973 runs or 4 centuries in the same IPL season. It is a record that remains unbroken.
Miles to go
Recently, Kohli broke a two-year century drought by scoring a fantastic 122* against Afghanistan. Kohli has now scored a century in every format of the game, and for statistics, Kohli has 71 centuries (and counting) across all game formats. He is only behind Sachin Tendulkar, who has 100 centuries.
All Indian cricket experts and fans believe that he will break more records and will represent India for many more matches.
Also Read: Cometh the Hour, Cometh The Man: Virat Kohli’s Exceptional Knock Helps India Win against Pakistan
