Early life
Virat Kohli was born on 5 November 1988 in Delhi into a Punjabi family.His father, Prem Kohli, worked as a criminal lawyer and his mother, Saroj Kohli, is a housewife He has an elder brother, Vikash, and an elder sister, Bhavna.According to his family, when he was three-years-old, Kohli would pick up a cricket bat, start swinging it and ask his father to bowl at him
Kohli was raised in Uttam Nagar and started his schooling at Vishal Bharti Public School. In 1998, the West Delhi Cricket Academy was created, and Kohli, a nine-year-old, was part of its first intake.[13] Kohli's father took him to the academy after their neighbors suggested that "Virat shouldn't waste his time in gully cricket and instead join a professional club Kohli trained at the academy under Rajkumar Sharma and also played matches at the Sumeet Dogra Academy at Vasundhara Enclave at the same time.[13] Sharma recounts Kohli's early days at his academy, "He oozed talent. It was so difficult to keep him quiet. He was a natural in whatever he did and I was most impressed with his attitude. He was ready to bat at any spot, and I had to literally push him home after the training sessions. He just wouldn’t leave."[14] In ninth grade, he shifted to Savier Convent in Paschim Vihar to help his cricket practice.[10] Apart from sports, Kohli was good at academics as well, and his teachers remember him as "a bright and alert child".[15] Kohli's family lived in Meera Bagh until 2015 when they moved to Gurgaon.[16]
Kohli's father died on 18 December 2006 due to a stroke after being bed-ridden for a month.[10] Regarding his early life, Kohli has said in an interview, "I've seen a lot in life. Losing my father at a young age, the family business not doing too well, staying in a rented place. There were tough times for the family... It's all embedded in my memory."[17] According to Kohli, his father supported his cricket training during his childhood
Youth and domestic career
Kohli first played for Delhi Under-15 team in October 2002 in the 2002–03 Polly Umrigar Trophy. He was the leading run-getter for his team in that tournament with 172 runs at an average of 34.40.[19] He became the captain of the team for the 2003–04 Polly Umrigar Trophy[20] and scored 390 runs in 5 innings at an average of 78 including two centuries and two fifties.[21] In late 2004, he was selected in the Delhi Under-17 team for the 2003–04 Vijay Merchant Trophy. He scored 470 runs in four matches at an average of 117.50 with two hundreds and top-score of 251*.[22] Delhi Under-17s won the 2004–05 Vijay Merchant Trophy in which Kohli finished as the highest run-scorer with 757 runs from 7 matches at an average of 84.11 with two centuries.[23] In February 2006, he made his List A debut for Delhi against Services but did not get to bat.
International career
Early years
In August 2008, Kohli was included in the Indian ODI squad for tour of Sri Lanka and the Champions Trophy in Pakistan. Prior to the Sri Lankan tour, Kohli had played only eight List A matches,[44] and his selection was called a "surprise call-up".[45]During the Sri Lankan tour, as both first-choice openers Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag were injured, Kohli batted as a makeshift opener throughout the series. He made his international debut, at the age of 19, in the first ODI of the tour and was dismissed for 12.[46] He made his first ODI half century, a score of 54, in the fourth match which helped India win the series.[46] He had scores of 37, 25 and 31 in the other three matches.[46] India won the series 3–2 which was India's first ODI series win against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka.
After the Champions Trophy was postponed to 2009, Kohli was picked as a replacement for the injured Shikhar Dhawan in the India A squad for the unofficial Tests against Australia A in September 2008.[47] He batted only once in the two-match series, and scored 49 in that innings.[48] Later that month in September 2008, he played for Delhi in the Nissar Trophy against SNGPL (winners of Quaid-i-Azam Trophy from Pakistan) and top-scored for Delhi in both innings, with 52 and 197. The match was drawn but SNGPL won the trophy on first-innings lead.[49] In October 2008, Kohli played for Indian Board President's XI in a four-day tour match against Australia. He made 105 and 16* in that match against a bowling line-up consisting of Brett Lee, Stuart Clark, Mitchell Johnson, Peter Siddle and Jason Krejza.[50]
Kohli was included in the squad for the home ODI series against England in November 2008 but was not given a chance to play, due to the inclusion of Tendulkar and Sehwag in the team.[51] In December 2008, Kohli was given a Grade D contract in the annual BCCI contracts list which entitled him to receive Rs 15 lakh.[52] He was then dropped from the squad for the five-match ODI series in Sri Lanka against Sri Lanka in January 2009.
Kohli was selected in the four-team Emerging Players Tournament in July–August 2009 held in Australia. He opened the innings for India Emerging Players in that tournament and finished as the leading run-getter with 398 runs from seven matches at an average of 66.33.[53] He scored 104 off 102 balls in the final against South Africa Emerging Players at Brisbaneto help his team win the match by 17 runs and clinch the title.[54] At the conclusion of the tournament, Kris Srikkanth, the chairman of the national selection committee, was impressed with Kohli and remarked "I must say, opener Virat Kohli was outstanding. Some of the shots he played spoke about his ability."[55] Kohli has called this tournament as the "turning point" of his career.[56]
Kohli returned to the national team replacing the injured Gambhir in Indian squad for the tri-series in Sri Lanka.[57] He batted at number 4 for India in the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy because of an injury to Yuvraj Singh. In the inconsequential group match against the West Indies, Kohli scored an unbeaten 79 in India's successful chase of 130 and won his first man of the match award.[58] Kohli played as a reserve batsman in the seven-match home ODI series against Australia, appearing in two matches as injury replacement. He found a place in the home ODI series against Sri Lanka in December 2009 and scored 27 and 54 in the first two ODIs before making way for Yuvraj who regained fitness for the third ODI. However, Yuvraj's finger injury recurred leading to him being ruled out indefinitely.[59] Kohli returned to the team in the fourth ODI at Kolkata and scored his first ODI century–107 off 111 balls–sharing a 224-run partnership for the third wicket with Gambhir who made his personal best score of 150. India won by seven wickets to seal the series 3–1.[46] The man of the match was awarded to Gambhir who gave the award to Kohli.[60]
Tendulkar was rested for the tri-nation ODI tournament in Bangladesh in January 2010 which enabled Kohli to play in each of India's five matches. Against Bangladesh, he scored 91 to help secure a win after India collapsed to 51/3 early in their run-chase of 297.[46] In the next match against Sri Lanka, Kohli ended unbeaten on 71 to help India win the match with a bonus point having chased down their target of 214 within 33 overs. The next day, he scored his second ODI century, against Bangladesh, bringing up the mark with the winning runs.[61] He became only the third Indian batsman to score two ODI centuries before their 22nd birthday, after Tendulkar and Suresh Raina.[62] Kohli was much praised for his performances during the series[56][63] in particular by the Indian captain Dhoni.[64] Although Kohli made only two runs in the final against Sri Lanka in a four-wicket Indian defeat,[46] he finished as the leading run-getter of the series with 275 runs from five innings at an average of 91.66.[65] In the three-match ODI series at home against South Africa in February, Kohli batted in two games and had scores of 31 and 57.
| Kohli's record in Twenty20 matches | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matches | Runs | HS | 100s | 50s | Avg. | |
| T20I | 50 | 1,830 | 90* | 0 | 17 | 53.82 |
| IPL[220] | 137 | 4,056 | 113 | 4 | 25 | 38.26 |
| CLT20[221] | 15 | 424 | 84* | 0 | 2 | 38.54 |
In March 2008, Kohli was bought on a youth contract by the Indian Premier League franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore for $30,000. He had an indifferent 2008 season, with a total of 165 runs in 12 innings at an average of 15.00 and a strike rate of 105.09
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TRIVIA
Virat Kohli is known his tremendous mental strength and one incident amply testifies it. When Virat Kohli lost his father he was in the midst of a Ranji Trophy match, playing for Delhi. He got a call at 3 am and came to know that his father has died. He was the overnight batsman for Delhi and his team was in a difficult situation. He scored a match saving 90 runs for his team the next day and went to his dad's funeral after that innings
Awards & Achievements
- He won the ICC ODI Player of the Year in 2012 and the BCCI's international cricketer of the year for the 2011–12 and 2014–15 seasons.
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