Virat Kohli ends T20 career on a high as India wins World Cup

The selection of Virat Kohli for the final match of the T20 World Cup in BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (AP) was a big confusion for the team management regarding whether he should be open for the final game.

Question marks over the selection of this great batsman as he scored nothing special in the previous matches of this T20 World Cup. Because Virat Kohli scored only 75 in the last seven matches of the World Cup, including two ducks, although India won every game, Kohli’s performance in these matches was nothing special.

Virat Kohli’s Indian T20 World Cup team selection was also questionable, but his selection was made possible by his excellent performances in the Indian Premier League.

Along with him, the opening batsman and captain Rohit Sharma also considered Virat Kohli the most suitable player to open the innings with because Rohit Sharma has always insisted that he and Virat Kohli will open the team’s innings.

But leaving behind all these doubts and question marks, Virat Kohli proved his selection to be the best in Saturday’s T20 World Cup final match against South Africa.

Virat Kohli helped the team’s batting line-up with a brilliant innings of 76 off 49 balls to take the team’s total to 176 runs; the bowler of Team India excellently defended the score of 176 to win the match against South Africa by 7 runs and thus became the world champion of the T20 World Cup.

Virat Kohli Profile

ICC Rankings

Debut/Last Matches of Virat Kohli

TEST MATCHES

ODI MATCHES

T20I MATCHES

IPL  Career

Early life and career

He was born on November 5, 1988,  in Delhi, India. He initially spent his childhood in Delhi and started playing cricket in 1998 while training at the West Delhi Cricket Academy. From there, he played for the Delhi U-15 team in 2002 and then in the Vijay Merchant Trophy in 2003. He was the Man of the Tournament and gave an impressive performance at this event.

After that, Kohli debuted with the service team in 2006 for a slightly bigger term called domestic cricket. But he did not get a chance to bat in that innings, and in November of the same year, he made only 10 on his first-class debut against Tamil Nadu.

Then, during the First Class match against Karnataka in December, when the entire team was returning to the pavilion and many players were getting out, Virat scored a valuable 90, which allowed Delhi to draw this match.

During domestic cricket, he made his T20 domestic debut in 2007 against Himachal Pradesh, scoring 35 in the first innings. Then, seeing Kohli’s excellent game spirit, he was selected for the ICC U-19 World Cup in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in 2008, where he led the India Cricket Team.

This year, he also got a chance to make his One Day International debut against Sri Lanka at Dambulla. But he caught the attention of team management and team selection when Kohli scored 405 in just nine innings in the Emerging Players tournament in Australia in 2009.

Early international career

Virat’s consistent scoring habit helped him stay selected with the national team for a long time.  He scored his first ODI century against Sri Lankan Cook in 2009. Then, in 2011, he was with the Indian team during the World Cup tour and scored a valuable 35 in the World Cup final, and this World Cup was won by the Indian team for the first time in 28 years.

Kohli made his Test debut against the West Indies in 2011 as the Indian team rested senior players, including Sachin Tendulkar, after the World Cup 2011.

During their test tour, when the Indian team was in Australia on the 2011-12 tour, they were badly defeated by 0-4. Still, the good thing about the whole tournament was Virat Kohli’s positive batting, and he also scored a century during that, which was a great number.

With time, Virat showed maturity in his batting, and 2012, he showed his best batting performance in the Commonwealth Bank series between Australia, Sri Lanka, and India. During this tournament, Kohli played a memorable innings of 133 runs off 86 balls against Sri Lanka, which India won.

For the 2012 Asia Cup, he was appointed as the NAB captain of his ODI team. India failed to win the final of the Asia Cup, but the highlight of the entire tournament was Kohli’s memorable innings of 183 runs against Pakistan.

International career as captain

In 2013, when MS Dhoni was injured, Virat Kohli was made the captain for the first time during the three-country series in the West Indies and continued to lead the rest of the series.

After that, when the team management decided to rest the senior players, he was entrusted with the team’s captaincy in the ODI series against Zimbabwe. Later, Virat Kohli also captained India during the Asia Cup 2014 in Dhoni’s absence.

Virat Kohli has proven his loyalty that he is always a consistent scorer, whether it is in Tests, ODIs, or T20Is, and he showed this ability during his first Test captaincy as the team management handed him the captaincy against Australia in 2014 after Dhoni was injured in Adelaide. So Virat Kohli played a valuable 141-run inning while chasing a score of 364 against Australia.

MS Dhoni retired after the match during the same series, after which Virat Kohli was made the official Test captain of the team from the fourth Test.

In 2022, Virat Kohli resigned from the Test captaincy, and after that, the Test captaincy went to Rohit Sharma. But during his Test captaincy, Virat Kohli captained India in a record 68 Test matches, winning 40 of them and being the best and most successful Indian captain.

Indian Premier League

Virat Kohli started his journey in IPL in 2008, and he played only for Royal Challengers Bangalore in his entire IPL career with a unique record.RCB bought him for 1.8 million dollars, and in 2010, he was also promoted to the post of NAB captain, he played the best innings for RCB and lost to Chennai Super Kings in the final.

Virat Kohli has captained RCB for a record eight seasons, having been Captain since 2013. Virat Kohli was retained for $2.1 million in 2018 and again for $2 million in 2022 but did not score anything special in 2016. He stepped down from the captaincy in 2022, after which RCB captaincy went to Faf du Plessis.

Awards

Virat Kohli has many honors but received the Arjuna Award, India’s second-highest sports honor, from the Indian government in 2013. In 2017, Virat Kohli was awarded the Padma Shri, India’s fourth-highest civilian award. In 2018, he was awarded the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award, India’s highest sports honor. Also, a stand at the Arun Jaitley  Stadium in Delhi was named after Virat Kohli in 2019.

His country, India, gave him this award, but ICC also awarded him ODI Cricketer of the Year in 2012, 2017, and 2018, and Test Player of the Year in 2018 due to his excellent batting performance. Along with this, he was also selected for the ICC T20I Team of the Year.

FAQs

How long have Virat and Anushka been together?

According to some reports, Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma first met face-to-face in 2013 on the sets of a shampoo commercial, after which they secretly liked each other and started dating secretly.

How would you describe Virat Kohli in one word?

In such difficult times, Virat Kohli’s excellent batting and playing  stance on the pitch has earned him titles like “Maestro.”Guru, and King. He holds these honors because he dominates all types of bowlers in every format of cricket, irrespective of the conditions.

How many children are there of Virat Kohli?

Movie actress Anoushka Sharma and cricket king Virat Kohli have two children, Vamika Kohli and Akaay Kohli.

What inspires Virat Kohli?

Virat Kohli’s versatile batting and childhood devotion to cricket show that a person’s dedication and hard work pay off.

Who is the Favorite of Virat Kohli?

When introducing cricket, any player mentions the name of their favorite cricketer. First, in the U-19 World Cup introduction video, Virat Kohli called South Africa’s Herschel Gibbs his favorite cricketer. But in other interviews, Virat Kohli named Sachin Tendulkar his favorite idol.