Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli  is an Indian cricketer. He is a middle-order batsman, who can also open the batting. He can also bowl right arm medium pace. Kohli was the captain of the victorious Indian team at the 2008 U/19 Cricket World Cup held in Malaysia. 

He represents Delhi in first-class cricket and is the captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise in the Indian Premier League. He also played for the West Delhi Cricket Academy.

Kohli made his One Day International (ODI) debut in 2008 and was part of the Indian team which won the 2011 World Cup. Despite being a regular in the ODI side, Kohli only played his first Test in 2011 against West Indies in Kingston. But on the disastrous 2011/12 India tour of Australia, in which India's senior batsmen struggled throughout, Kohli stood out, scoring his first Test hundred in Adelaide.Kohli was the recipient of the ICC ODI Player of the Year award in 2012. SportsPro has rated him the 13th most marketable athlete in the world.

Virat Kohli was born on 5 November 1988 in Delhi to Prem and Saroj Kohli. He has an elder brother, Vikash, and an elder sister, Bhavna. Kohli attended school at Vishal Bharti and Savier Convent. His father, Prem, worked as a lawyer and died in December 2006

The West Delhi Cricket Academy was created in 1998 and Kohli was part of its first intake.Kohli first came into the spotlight when he played for Delhi in a Ranji Trophy match against Karnataka on the day of his father's death. Choosing to stay and bat, he went on to score 90 runs. Mithun Manhas, the team's captain, remarked that "That is an act of great commitment to the team and his innings turned out to be crucial".

Kohli captained the victorious Indian team at the 2008 U/19 Cricket World Cup held in Malaysia.Batting at number 4, he scored 235 runs in 6 matches at an average of 47, including a century against the West Indies U-19s. He was also commended for making several tactical bowling changes during the tournament. His mother noted that "Virat changed a bit after that day. Overnight he became a much more matured person. He took every match seriously. He hated being on the bench. It's as if his life hinged totally on cricket after that day."

Kohli was instrumental in India's win of the 2009 Emerging Players Tournament in Australia. In the final against South Africa, Kohli scored a century and India went on to win the game by 17 runs. Kohli emerged as the leading run scorer of the tournament, aggregating 398 runs from seven matches including two centuries and two fifties.

Following a hundred in the Emerging Players Tournament in Australia in 2008, Kohli was selected in the ODI squad for India's tour of Sri Lanka in 2008.Kohli made his debut in One Day Internationals against Sri Lanka in the Idea Cup in 2008 when both Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag were injured. He opened the batting in the first match, and was dismissed for 12. But he made a crucial 37 in a low-scoring second match in the series, which helped India win and level the series. He made his first half-century, a score of 54, in the fourth match which helped India win the series. 

This was India's first ODI series win against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. He was included in the squad for the home ODI series against England later that same year but was not given a chance to play, due to the inclusion of Tendulkar and Sehwag in team. Kohli was then dropped from the squad for the five-match ODI series in Sri Lanka against Sri Lanka in January 2009.