Virat Kohli is a famous Indian cricketer and is currently considered as one of India’s potential batsman. He is a middle order batsman but can also open in the batting order. Virat can also bowl and is a right arm medium pacer. Viral Kohli plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League (IPL). In 2008, Virat made his One Day International (ODI) debut and was part of the Indian team which won the 2011 World Cup. He played his first Test in 2011 against West Indies in Kingston and scored his first Test hundred in Adelaide in the 2011/12 India tour of Australia. Virat Kohli was born on 5th November 1988 in Delhi. He is the son of Prem and Saroj Kohli and has an elder brother and sister, Vikash and Bhavna. He did his schooling from Vishal Bharti Public School and Saviour Convent Senior Secondary School.
The West Delhi Cricket Academy was part of its first intake in cricket. He came into spotlight when he played for Delhi against Karnataka in a Ranji Trophy match. Virat as the captain led the Indian team to victory at the 2008 U/19 Cricket World Cup held in Malaysia. He was highly praised for making several tactical bowling changes during the tournament. Kohli was the key factor in India's win at the 2009 Emerging Players Tournament in Australia. His Indian Premier League performance has improved swiftly since the first season in 2008.
Virat Kohli made his debut in One Day International against Sri Lanka in the Idea Cup in 2008. He scored his first half century, 54 runs, in the 4th match and helped India win the series and its first one day series win against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka. He played in the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy and got a chance to play in the 4th ODI when Sri Lanka toured India in December 2009. He scored his first ODI century, making India win the series 3 - 1. In June 2010, Virat was named vice-captain of India or the Tri-series against Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka in Zimbabwe. He became the fastest Indian to score 1000 runs in ODI cricket in this series. In 2010, he was India's leading run-scorer with 995 runs including 3 centuries from 25 matches with an average of 47.38.
Virat Kohli was chosen over Raina in the 2011 Cricket World Cup and became the first Indian to score a century in a World Cup debut. Between 1st January 2009 and 1st September 2011, Virat Kohli was India's second highest run-scorer in ODIs with 1994 runs at an average of 47.47. Virat attained his career-best second spot in the latest ICC Player Rankings for ODI batsmen after the end of the India-Sri Lanka series in August 2012. He was named ODI Cricketer of the year at the ICC annual award function in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
Achievements –
- Fastest Indian Cricketer to reach 1000 runs in ODIs
- Fastest Indian Cricketer to reach 3000 runs in ODIs
- Virat scored 183 runs, the highest score by any batsmen in ODI against Pakistan.
- Most runs in a Calendar year in ODIs for 2011
- ICC ODI Cricketer of the year 2012
