Virat Kohli is an Indian Cricketer and a right-handed top order batsman who currently holds the captain of Indian National Cricket team for Test, ODI and T20. He is also known as the “Run Machine”. His nickname is chikoo.
Since October 2017, he has been the top-ranked ODI batsman in the world and is currently the leading batsman in the Test rankings. Kohli was ranked as one of the world’s most famous athletes by ESPN and one of the most valuable athlete brands by Forbes.
Background
Virat Kohli was born on 5th November 1988 in New Delhi into a Punjabi family. His father, Prem Kohli, was a criminal lawyer and his mother, Saroj Kohli, is a homemaker. Virat has two older siblings, a brother – Vikash and a sister – Bhavna.
Along with cricket, Virat Kohli was an excellent student in academics as well. His father gave him unconditional support to chase his dreams. Unfortunately, his father couldn’t witness his legendary achievements. When Kohli was just 19, his father passed away due to a stroke.
According to Virat, his father supported his cricket training during his childhood, “My father was my biggest support. He drove me to practice every day. I miss his presence sometimes.
Virat Kohli Career
In October 2002, Kohli first played for Delhi U-15 team at Polly Umrigar Trophy. He was the leading run-scorer for his team in that tournament. In 2004, he was selected in the Delhi U-17 team for Vijay Merchant Trophy. Delhi U-17s won the Vijay Merchant trophy in which Virat finished as the highest run-scorer with two centuries.
He came into the glimpse in December when he decided to play for his team against Karnataka on the day after his father’s death and went on to score 90. He went directly to the funeral after the match.
In 2008, Kohli captained the victorious Indian team at the 2008 ICC U-19 Cricket World Cup held in Malaysia. Following the U-19 World Cup, Kohli was bought by the IPL franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore for 30,000 USD on a youth contract.
Virat Kohli made his ODI International debut against Sri Lanka in 2008. He scored 54 runs and helped India to win the series. In 2011 Cricket world cup, he became the first Indian to score a century in a World Cup debut. In 2013, he claimed the number 1 spot in ICC rankings for ODI batsman. Kohli was appointed the vice-captain of the ODI team in 2012 and handed over the test captaincy in 2014.
In ODI’s Kohli has the second highest number of centuries and the highest number of centuries in run-chase in the world. In 2013, Kohli appeared in the ICC Champions Trophy in England which India won. He scored a match winning 144 against Sri Lanka in a practice match. In 2014 ICC World T20, Kohli was named vice-captain. Kohli has made a total of 319 runs in the tournament and won the Man of the Tournament award.
In 2015 Cricket World Cup first match against Pakistan, Kohli hit 107 in 126 balls, to help India set a target of 300 and win the match by 76 runs. Kohli got the chance to captain for the first time in the 2007 ICC Champions trophy. In the semi-final, Kohli scored 96* against Bangladesh, thus becoming the fastest batsman to reach 8,000 runs in ODIs in 175 innings. In his captaincy, Team India reached the finals, but lost to Pakistan team by 180 runs.
In 2019 Cricket World Cup, he was named the captain of India’s squad. On 16th June 2019, in the match against Pakistan, he became the fastest batsman to score 11,000 runs in ODI cricket in his 222nd innings.
Indian Premier League
Kohli was bought by the IPL franchise RCB for 30,000 USD on a youth contract. In 2010 season, he was the third highest run-getter for his team with 307 runs. Ahead of 2011 season, Kohli was the only player retained by RCB. He was the second highest run-getter after Chris Gayle, and his team finished as runners-up of the IPL.
In 2016, he won orange cap by scoring 973 runs in 16 matches and his team finished as runners-up. RCB retained Kohli for a price of 17 Crore in 2018. On 28th March 2019, he became the second player to reach 5000 IPL runs after Suresh Raina.
Personal life
In 2013, Virat met Bollywood stardom Anushka Sharma while shooting an ad for a shampoo brand. They soon started dating and their relationship attracted lots of media attention. They got married on 11th December 2017 in a private villa in Florence, Italy.
In 2017, Kohli was ranked seventh in the list released by Forbes as the Most Valuable brand among athletes ahead of player like Messi and Stephen Curry with an estimated brand value of 14.5 million USD. In 2018, he was also featured in the Top 100 highest paid athletes in the world list.
International Record
Test Record: Matches Played – 77, Innings – 131, Runs – 6,133, Highest Score – 243, Average – 53.8, Centuries – 25, Half Centuries – 20.
ODI Record: Matches Played – 234, Innings – 226, Runs – 11,251, Highest Score – 183, Average – 59.5, Centuries – 41, Half Centuries – 54.
T20 Record: Matches Played – 67, Innings – 62, Runs – 2,263, Highest Score – 90*, Average -50.3, Centuries – 0, Half Centuries – 20.
Awards & Achievements
- Virat is the only Asian captain to win tests in Australia, England and South Africa.
- He is the first cricketer to be awarded the top three ICC awards (Cricketer of the year, Test cricketer of the year and ODI cricketer of the year) in a single year.
- As a Captain from 2015 to 2017, he became the most consecutive wins for his team in Test series (9) (equal with Ricky Ponting from 2005–2008).
- In 2013, he was awarded with Arjuna Award.
- In 2017, he was awarded with Padma Shri, India’s fourth highest civilian award.
- In 2018, he was awarded with Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award.
- In 2017 and 2018, he received Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy respectively (ICC Cricketer of the Year).
- In 2017 (captain), 2018 (captain) he was awarded with ICC Test Team of the Year:
- In 2012, 2014, 2016 (captain), 2017 (captain), 2018 (captain) he was awarded with ICC ODI Team of the Year.
- In 2018, he was awarded with ICC Test Player of the Year: 2018
- In 2012, 2017 and 2018, he was awarded with ICC ODI Player of the Year
- Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World: 2016, 2017 and 2018.
