Virat Kohli is an Indian cricketer and also the current captain of the Indian Cricket Test team as well as the India Captain on ODIs. He is a right-handed batsman and has been ranked 18 in ESPN's list of most famous athletes of 2016. He was the captain of India's U-19 team and the team won the 2008-09 World Cup under his leadership. He is a regular middle-order batsman and represents Delhi in first-class cricket. In the Indian team, he bats at number 3 position. In the Indian Premiere League (IPL), Virat Kohli plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and also is the team's captain since 2013. He is also the co-owner of the ISL team FC Goa and the IPTL franchise UAE Royals. Virat Kohli finds a place in the Forbes list of highest paid athletes in the world.
Born on 5 November, 1988, in Delhi in a Punjabi family, Virat Kohli's father Prem Kohli was a criminal lawyer whereas his mother Saroj Kohli is a housewife. Virat is the youngest of the three children - he has an elder brother Vikash Kohli and an elder sister Bhavna Kohli. Virat Kohli spent his childhood days in Uttam Nagar and he did his schooling from Vishal Bharti Public School in Delhi. He started his cricket practice in 1998 at the age of nine at West Delhi Cricket Academy. He later trained at the Rajkumar Sharma Academy and the Sumeet Dogra Academy at Vasundhara Enclave at the same time. He shifted to Savier Convent in Paschim Vihar when he was in the ninth grade to focus on his cricket. He was also good at studies and his teachers remember him as an alert and bright child.
Virat Kohli first played for the Delhi U-15 cricket team in October 2002 in the Polly Umrigar Trophy and was the top scorer for his team in the tournament scoring 172 runs with an average of 34.40. He became the captain of his team in the 2003 Polly Umrigar Trophy and scored 390 runs in fice innings, which included two centuries and two half-centuries at an average of 78. He was then selected for the Delhi in U-17 team for the 2002-03 Vijay Merchant Trophy in which he scored 470 runs in four matches at an average of 117.50. Virat Kohli scored two centuries and his top score was of 251*.
In the 2004-05 Vijay Merchant U-17 tournament, Virat Kohli became the highest scorer at 757 runs from seven matches, at an average of 84.11 and two centuries. He was selected for Delhi against Services but did not get to bat. He was then selected for the U-19 squad against England in 2006. Kohli made his First Class debut for Delhi against Tamil Nadu in November 2006 and scored 10 runs in his debut innings. He came into the spotlight in December when he decided to play for his team against Karnataka on the day of his father's death and scored 90 and went directly to the funeral after he was dismissed.
After this incident, according to Virat's mother, there was change in his commitment and determination and he became a more mature person and took every match seriously. He scored a total of 257 runs in that season at an average of 36.71. In March 2008, he led the Indian U-19 team at the 2008 U-19 World Cup held in Malaysia. He scored 235 runs in the tournament and the team won the World Cup. Following the U-19 World Cup, he was bought by the Indian Premiere League (IPL) franchise RCB for US$30,000.
In July 2008, he was also included in India's 30-man probable squad for the ICC Champions Trophy that was held in Pakistan. Kohli was selected in the ODI squad for India's tour of Sri Lanka. He made his debut in the match where both Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar were injured, and so Virat opened the batting in his first international match but scored only 12 runs. He made his first half century, scoring 54 in his fourth match of the series and helped India win the series. He was later included in the ODI series against England that year but he couldn't play since Tendulkar and Sehwag were back from the injury.
Virat played the 2009 ICC Champions Trophy after Yuvraj Singh was injured. On December 2009, Kohli scored his first century against Sri Lanka. He was made the Vice-Captain of the ODI side for the Tri-series between India, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe in Zimbabwe. In this series, he became the fastest Indian to score 1,000 runs in ODI cricket.
In the 2011 ICC Cricket World Cup, he was preferred over Suresh Raina. Virat Kohli became the first Indian to score a century in a World Cup debut. Between January 1, 2009 and 1 September 2011, Virat Kohli became India's second-highest run scorer in ODIs with 1,994 runs at an average of 47.47.
In July-August 2012, Virat Kohli struck two-half centuries in a five-match tour of Sri Lanka, scoring 106 off 113 balls and 128* off 119 balls. He was named the Player of the Series. He scored his Test century at Bangalore during New Zealand's tour of India and won his first Man of the Match award in Test cricket. For the first Test of the Australian tour in December 2014, Virat Kohli became the Captain of the test team for the first time, as Mahendra Singh Dhoni was suffering from an injury. As his Test debut as Captain, Virat Kohli scored 115 in the first innings, making him the fourth Indian to score a century in his debut as captain. In the second innings, chasing the target of 364, Kohli came to bat when the score was 57/2 and started batting aggressively, managing to put on 185 runs for the third wicket with Murali Vijay.
In the 2014 India tour of Australia, MS Dhoni announced his retirement following the third test in Melbourne following which, Virat Kohli was made the Test captain of India. Virat Kohli became the first cricketer to score three centuries in the first three innings as Test captain. He also became the first Indian test captain to score a double hundred overseas. Kohli also has a good record in his IPL career and he was made the captain of RCB in 2013 after Daniel Vettori's retirement. In IPL 2016, Virat Kohli broke the record of most runs in an IPL season and scored 973 runs in 16 matches with an average of 81.08, winning the orange cap. He scored four centuries in the tournament and became the first player to reach the 4000-run milestone.
Virat Kohli is in a relationship with popular Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma and supports her if she is trolled by his fans. The cricketer has also admitted that he is superstitious and wears wristbands on field and also the same pair of gloves through which he has been scoring. Virat Kohli has been a recipient of many awards and won the ICC ODI Player of the Year in 2012 and the BCCI International Cricketer of the Year for 2011-12 and 2014-15. In 2013, Virat Kohli was awarded the Arjuna Award in recognition of his achievements in international cricket. The cricketer is currently leading Team India for the Champions Trophy in England.
