From a lanky boy to one of the greatest cricketers of all time – 14 years of Virat Kohli

Early on, a young boy aspired to fame. He had two double hundreds by the time Under-17 cricket came around. He had made his Ranji Trophy debut by the age of 18. He was a World Cup-winning captain before the age of 19. He had already won two World Cups at the age of 22. The youngster realized he was born to rule. And the inevitability of it all is perplexing.

Virat Kohli was 18 when his father passed away. Virat was playing a Ranji match versus Karnataka. He had scored 40 runs overnight. To the shock of his teammates, he turned up at Feroz Shah Kotla the following morning and scored 90 runs to avoid a follow-on and rescue Delhi. There is no better illustration of Kohli’s early development of responsibility than this.

He made his international debut against Sri Lanka in Dambulla on this day in 2008. At the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium, Kohli was asked to open the innings because both Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar were not available to play. Virat Kohli strode out to the middle with Gautam Gambhir on that bright Monday in Dambulla and went on to dominate the decade. Runs flowed and several records were broken years later.

Sri Lanka’s bowling attack included Nuwan Kulasekara, Chaminda Vaas, Ajantha Mendis, and Muttiah Muralitharan on the challenging surface. Kohli walked back to the pavilion after scoring 12 off 22 balls. Getting out for only 12 runs, Kohli didn’t have a great start to his career, but like any other adolescent, there was potential, and who knew that this youngster was going to be one of the greatest batters one day?

The star batter improved his technique and soon became a regular feature in the playing XI. He stunned the cricketing world by playing sensational knocks one after the other. As more elite bowlers fell prey to Kohli’s skill, his stature continued to rise. Among many other astounding achievements, Virat Kohli, who has amassed over 23,500 runs in international play, is the fastest to attain 10,000 ODI runs and 20,000 international runs.

Kohli was instrumental in the 2011 World Cup victory and the 2013 Champions Trophy. He excelled in his leadership capacity after demonstrating his skill in the batting domain. When he was appointed India’s permanent captain across all formats in January 2017, what happened next was not a surprise to anyone.

The talismanic batter continued to get better and break records, making this journey spectacular. It wouldn’t be inaccurate to claim that Kohli changed the face of Indian cricket with his sheer tenacity and confidence in beating the odds. Between 2014 and 2016, Kohli notched up 19 centuries and established himself as the world’s best batsman across all forms.

When you see Virat Kohli in action, you immediately notice two things. One, there is zeal and a drive to excel in all he does. Other than that, he plays to win. Isn’t it something that every player does? But not quite like Virat, who can bring the entire stadium to life with his batting, which everyone now admits is a work of art in and of itself.

Four IPL centuries in a single season, Man of the Series in WT20 2016 for the second time, three double hundreds in tests, and four ODI tons. All of the magic in a single year. That was 2016 in a nutshell.

Virat Kohli asserted his supremacy across formats again in 2017. He began the year with centuries and finished the year with double hundreds nearly at will, proving that consistency is essential for success.

With yet another record-breaking year, Virat Kohli proved that he is the world’s best batsman. Like 2016, the script for 2018 was already written before the year began.

Virat Kohli, the Indian captain, guided Team India to a historic victory Down Under in 2019. Aside from that, he became the fastest batsman in international cricket history to amass 20,000 runs.

Kohli has played 102 Tests, 262 ODIs, and 99 T20Is for India, scoring 8074, 12344, and 3308 runs in the three formats, respectively. He has a total of 70 international hundreds, the most recent of which came in a Test against Bangladesh in November 2019.

Each athlete’s vocation shows up as a blip that comes to characterise his or her time. It becomes interchangeable with the competitor’s being. Name any athlete across sports – Sachin Tendulkar, Roger Federer, Cristiano Ronaldo, they have all gone through such phases in their international career. Virat Kohli’s last year or more hasn’t fared well by his standards, which even he might agree with.

The unpredictable manner in which Indian cricket as a whole operates also contributes to this desire to do better. If you give up, you’ll be dragged down. You will get knocked over if you let your guard down. It is a merciless country with a brutal cricket culture: constantly on the go, always prepared to forget.

Amid all this, Kohli remains that same individual who wants to dominate, regardless of the conditions or the opposition, after 14 years in international cricket. That person who wants to be remembered for his palpable aggression and for inspiring a team to fight fire with fire.

Along with improving his own performance, Kohli also instilled a “fearless attitude” in the Indian team. The batter is already a giant in the game at the age of 33, and only time will tell how far he develops. The star batter has recently had fewer runs than usual, but he would be eager to return to his A-game.

Virat Kohli is 33 years old and still has a lot more cricket in him. When he strides out to bat, a billion hearts beat as one. He still has a lot of bowling attacks to deal with, battles to win, records to break, and, most importantly, more matches to win for India.