Popular Indian cricketer Virat Kohli has indeed carved a niche for himself in the annals of Indian cricket history. He is presently the captain of the Indian national cricket team and is considered to be one of the best batsmen in the world.
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What is there to know about Virat Kohli?
• He was born on 5th November 1988.
• He is the right-handed batsman.
• Ranks 8th in ESPN list of famous athletes in 2016.
• He also plays for the Royal Challengers of Bangalore in the Indian
Premier League (IPL).
• He has been the team captain since 2013.
• He was born in Delhi and also brought up there.
• He is the second batsman to have scored 1,000 or more runs for 4
consecutive calendar years.
• He is the recipient of the ICC ODI player of the year in 2012.
• The international cricketer of the year for 2011-12 and 2014-15.
Other attributes of Virat Kholi:
• He is 5ft 9 inches tall.
• Right arm medium as far as bowling is concerned.
• His nickname is Cheeku.
The year 2009 proved quite a remarkable year for Kohli as well as India as he got a regular chance to be no No.3 slot in the ODI team and strengthened his position on his own with a string of rather consistent scores. He, in fact, happens to be the first Indian to score a century on World Cup debut when he successfully challenged Bangladesh in India’s first game of the 2011 World Cup. He furthermore made few more vital contributions that include an 83-run stand with Gautam Gambhir in the finals in the world Cup Campaign.
What are Virat Kohli’s ups and downs?
- Team India did not fare well after the World Cup, but Kohli’s career graph did go up rapidly in the year 2011-12 season.
- He made his Test debut in West Indies in July 2011 but was dropped when it came to the England Tests that followed after his poor debut series.
- However, Kohli continued to maintain his tempo in ODIs and made 194 runs from about five innings which include a century.
- His ODI success led to a Test recall for the home series against West Indies, and Kohli hasn’t looked back ever since.
- A couple of half-centuries in the final Test pushed him into the Test squad for the Australia tour which followed.
- Kohli failed in the first two Tests in Australia but justified the team management’s continuous support for him with a 75 in the third Test in Perth and a century his first in Test cricket – in Adelaide.
- Kohli went on to make centuries against New Zealand, England, and Australia when the teams visited the sub-continent in the 2012-13 season and established himself as a batting mainstay for India.
- Kohli had a successful IPL season as the captain and was able to lead the Bangalore franchise to the fifth position in the league table.
- He amassed 634 runs in 16 games, finishing as the third highest run-getter in IPL 6.
- Kohli was, in fact, one of the most consistent batsmen in the ICC Champions Trophy in June 2013 and finished fifth in the table of top run-scorers with 176 runs.
- On account of MS Dhoni being injured during the Zimbabwe ODI series in July 2013, Kohli had the honor of leading the team for the remaining games.
- When Australia has toured India in October 2013, Kohli had become the fastest Indian to score a century. He achieved this feat in just 52 balls as India was successful in the second highest run chase in the history of ODI cricket.
- Kohli was able to amass 344 runs in the series at an average of 114.66 and topped the ICC Batsmen rankings.
- In November 2013, Kohli became the joint-fastest batsman to score 5,000 runs in ODIs when he scored 86 against West Indies in the first game in Kochi.
- Virat Kohli has had a fascinating cricket career. He attained much success and proved his mettle as the successful cricketer.