Virat Kohli, the Indian cricket team captain, has always been passionate about his game and has proven to be one of the best cricketers in the world. He is well-known not only for his cricket skills, but also for the fitness regimen he maintains as a sportsman. He has gained fame in the cricket industry but is also internationally recognized. Today, we’ll study his life story and the ups & downs of his journey.
Virat Kohli: Indian Team Captain
Virat Kohli is the current captain of the Indian cricket team and is well known for his batting skills all over the world. He has been playing for India since 2008 and has played 91 Test matches, 254 ODI matches, and 90 T20 matches. He also captained the Indian Under-19 team that won the 2008 Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia. He has always been passionate about cricket and has proven to be one of the best cricketers in the world. Virat Kohli is well-known not only for his cricket skills, but also for the fitness regimen he maintains as a sportsman. He has gained fame in the cricket industry but is also internationally recognized. With a total of 119 M followers on Instagram, Virat Kohli became the world’s first cricketer to have 100 million followers.
Virat Kohli: Quick Stats
- Occupation: Indian cricketer
- Date of Birth: 5th November 1988
- Age: 32
- Home Town: New Delhi
- Spouse: Anushka Sharma
- Children: Vamika (girl)
- Nationality: Indian
Virat Kohli Childhood
Virat Kohli was born in Delhi on November 5, 1988, to a middle-class Punjabi family and was nicknamed "Cheeku" by his family. He had been a cricket fan since he was three, according to his family, and would play around the house with his father, asking him to bowl while he batted.
Virat Kohli Education
Virat did his schooling at Vishal Bharti Public School and in 1998, when he was 9 years old he was selected to be a part of the West Delhi Cricket Academy. Kohli was trained under Rajkumar Sharma at the West Delhi Cricket Academy and also played matches at the Sumeet Dogra Academy at the same time. For the sake of cricket practices, he shifted to Savior Convent in Paschim Vihar in 9th standard.
Virat Kohli Family
Kohli’s father, Prem Kohli, was a criminal lawyer and his mother, Saroj Kohli, was a homemaker. He has an older brother, Vikas, and an older sister, Bhavna. His father died on 18th December, 2006 due to a stroke. In the words of Kohli, "Losing my father at a young age; my father was my biggest support and he was the one who drove me to practice every day."Virat is also happily married to Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma and both were blessed with a baby girl in 2021.
Virat Kohli: Cricket Career Timeline
- 2002 –2004: Inter State Trophies Kohli began his career in October 2002, when he played for the Delhi Under-15 squad in the 2002-03 Polly Umrigar Trophy, where he was the team's leading run-scorer. In 2003, he was named captain of the squad for the Polly Umrigar Trophy, and in 2004, he was picked for the Vijay Merchant Trophy with the Delhi Under -17 team. The Delhi Under-17 squad won the Vijay Merchant Trophy in 2004-05, with Kohli finishing the match as the highest run-scorer.
- 2005 – 2006: Death of Father In 2006, Kohli was selected to play for India's Under-19 squad against England's Under-19 squad. Kohli made his first-class debut against Tamil Nadu in November 2006, when he was 18 years old and playing for Delhi. Kohli chose to play for his side against Karnataka on the day his father died in December 2006, and he gained popularity for his attitude and determination. Kohli grew more serious about his game when his father died, and he vowed to fulfil his father's ambition by making it his own.
- 2007: Highest run-getter in T20 Championship In April 2007, he played his first Twenty20 match and led his side to victory in the Inter-State T20 Championship. Kohli travelled to Sri Lanka in July and August 2007 to play against Sri Lanka Under-19s and Bangladesh Under-19s.
2008: India Under-19 Team Captain
Virat then captained the Indian team at the 2008 ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup in Malaysia in February 2008. Kohli then went on to play against the West Indies Under-19s, New Zealand Under-19s, and South Africa Under-19s.Kohli was given the Border-Gavaskar scholarship in June 2008, which allowed him to train at Cricket Australia's Centre of Excellence in Brisbane for six weeks. He was included to India's 30-men probable team for the ICC Champions Trophy, which was held in Pakistan, in July 2008.
Virat Kohli International Career Timeline
- 2008 – 2011: Part of the 2011 World Cup Virat joined the Indian cricket team in Sri Lanka in 2008, when he was given the opportunity to open the batting in the ODI series due to the absence of regular openers. He was able to cement himself as a regular in the ODI middle order, and he also performed admirably in the 2011 World Cup. Virat made his Test debut in 2011.
- 2012 – 2015: Captain of the ODI team Kohli was appointed as vice-captain of the ODI team in 2012, and after Mahendra Singh Dhoni's retirement, he was appointed as a captain. In 2013, he reached the number one spot in the ICC rankings for ODI batsmen. In the Twenty20 format, he won Man of the Tournament twice in 2014 and 2015.
- 2016 – Present: World Record Kohli replaced Dhoni as the limited-overs captain in early 2017. In ODIs, Kohli has the second-highest number of centuries in the world. In One-Day International cricket, he holds the global record for the quickest batsman. Among the Indian Batsmen, Kohli has the best Test rating, ODI rating, and T20I rating. In addition, Kohli became the first player in IPL history to achieve 6000 runsagainst Rajasthan Royals. Kohli has 70 centuries in international cricket as of February2021, including 27 Test centuries and 43 One-Day International centuries.
Awards and Achievements
Kohli has received a great deal of reputation throughout the years as a result of his skills, which is impressive at such a young age. Kohli is well-known not just in India, but also across the world. He has been awarded tons of awards and accolades, including:
- National Honors
- Arjun Award (2013)
- Padma Shri (2017)
- Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna (2018)
- Sporting Honors
- ICC Spirit of Cricket (2019)
- Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World (2016, 2017 and 2018)
- CEAT International Cricketer of the year (2011- 19)
- Barmy Army - International Player of the year (2017, 18)
- People’s Choice Awards India For Favourite Sportsperson (2012)
- CNN-News18 Indian of the Year (2017)
Virat Kohli: Personal Life
- Love life: Anushka Sharma During the filming of a hair shampoo commercial in 2013, Kohli met Bollywood diva Anushka Sharma for the first time. Virat and Anushka felt a deep bond and thought they had a lot in common during the three-day shoot. They stated that they became good friends and kept their relationship private after that. Virushka, as they're known to their followers, came out openly after a couple of years of dating.
- Marriage and Baby Girl The couple tied their knots in Tuscany, Italy on December 11, 2017, while Anushka looked gorgeous in pink Lehenga Virat wore a flattering silk sherwani with rose silk kotasafa. In August 2020, the couple announced that they were expecting a third member of their family in January and the world went crazy. Anushka gave birth to a baby girl on January 11, 2021 at Mumbai’s Breach Candy Hospital and named her Vamika.
3 years and onto a lifetime together ❤️ pic.twitter.com/a30gdU87vS
— Virat Kohli (@imVkohli) December 11, 2020
Virat Kohli: World’s 4th Fittest Cricketer
Kohli became a vegan in 2018 after suffering from a cervical spine problem caused by elevated uric acid levels, which caused his stomach to pull calcium from his bones. He is concerned with his health and never misses a training session and ranked 4th among all the fit cricketers around the world. He works out five days a week and takes two days off. Both Virat and Anushka are health-conscious and strive to consume as nutritious food as possible.
Virat Kohli is no longer a child who used to play with his father around the house. Virat Kohli is a brand that has made India proud while also fulfilling his father's dream. He has taught us that success should not be achieved by sitting and doing nothing, but to accomplish it, you must put in a significant amount of effort. Virat demonstrated that he is not only a genius in his profession but also a caring husband and a caring father.
