Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli was born on 5 November 1988 in Delhi to Prem and Saroj Kohli. He has an elder brother, Vikash, and an elder sister, Bhavna. Kohli attended school at Vishal Bharti and Savier Convent. His father, Prem, worked as a lawyer and died in December 2006. He loves the Aston Martin, Ed Hardy shirts and is the only Indian cricketer with heavily tattooed arms (a Golden Dragon on his forearm is apparently for luck). Virat Kohli is an Indian cricketer. A middle-order batsman, who can also bowl right arm medium pace, Kohli captained the victorious Indian team at the 2008 U/19 Cricket World Cup held in Malaysia, and is the captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise in the Indian Premier League. He also represents Delhi in first-class cricket and played for the West Delhi Cricket Academy. In One Day International (ODI) cricket, Kohli holds the record for the fastest century by an Indian batsman, and became the fastest to 17 hundreds in ODI by any batsman. He is the fourth batsman in ODIs after Sourav Ganguly (1997-2000), Sachin Tendulkar (1996-98) and Mahendra Singh Dhoni (2007–09) to hit 1000 or more ODI runs in three or more consecutive calendar years. He also holds the record for most centuries in chases, with 11 centuries, behind only Sachin Tendulkar. He is the first batsman to make five successive scores of 50 or more in ODIs on two separate occasions. Kohli made his ODI debut in 2008 and was part of the Indian team which won the 2011 World Cup. Despite being a regular in the ODI side, Kohli only played his first Test in 2011 against West Indies in Kingston. But on the disastrous 2011/12 India tour of Australia, in which India's senior batsmen struggled throughout, Kohli stood out, scoring his first Test hundred in Adelaide.
Kohli was the recipient of the ICC ODI Player of the Year award in 2012. SportsPro has rated him the 2nd most marketable athlete in the world. In October 2013, against Australia, Kohli smashed the fastest ODI century by an Indian, the seventh fastest ever. In November 2013, he became the top ranked ODI batsman for the first time. Kohli, also received the Man of the Tournament during the 2014 T20 World Cup in Bangladesh.

Career

The West Delhi Cricket Academy was created in 1998 and Kohli was part of its first intake. Kohli first played for Delhi Under-15 team in October 2002 in the 2002-03 Polly Umrigar Trophy. He was the leading run-getter for his team in that tournament with 172 runs at an average of 34.40. He became the captain of the team for the 2003-04 Polly Umrigar Trophyand scored 390 runs in 5 innings at an average of 78 including two centuries and two fifties. In late-2004, he was selected in the Delhi Under-17 team for the 2003-04 Vijay Merchant Trophy. He scored 470 runs in four matches at an average of 117.50 with two hundreds and top-score of 251*.Delhi Under-17s won the 2004-05 Vijay Merchant Trophy in which Kohli finished as the highest run-scorer with 757 runs from 7 matches at an average of 84.11 with two centuries. In February 2006, he made his List A debut for Delhi against Services but did not get to bat.
In July 2006, Kohli was selected in the India Under-19 squad on its tour of England. He averaged 105 in the three-match ODI series against England Under-19 and 49 in the three-match Test series. India Under-19 went on to win both the series. After the conclusion of the tour, India Under-19 coach Lalchand Rajput was impressed with Kolhi and said, "Kohli showed strong technical skills against both pace and spin".In September, the India Under-19 team toured Pakistan. Kohli averaged 58 in the Test series and 41.66 in the ODI series against Pakistan Under-19s. In October, playing for Delhi Under-19s, he averaged 15 in the Vinoo Mankad Trophy and 72.66 in the Cooch Behar Trophy. He was then picked in the North Zone Under-19 squad for the Vijay Hazare Trophy in which he averaged 28 in two matches.
Kohli made his first-class debut for Delhi against Tamil Nadu in November 2006, at the age of 18, and scored 10 in his debut innings. He came into the spotlight in December when he decided to play for his team against Karnataka on the day after his father's death and went on to score 90. Delhi captain Mithun Manhas said, "That is an act of great commitment to the team and his innings turned out to be crucial. Hats off to his attitude and determination." He scored a total of 257 runs from 6 matches at an average of 36.71 in that season. In April 2007, he made his Twenty20 debut and finished as the highest run-getter for his team in the Inter-State T20 Championship with 179 runs at an average of 35.80. In July–August 2007, the India Under-19 team toured Sri Lanka. In the triangular series against Sri Lanka Under-19s and Bangladesh Under-19s, Kohli was the second highest run-getter with 146 runs from 5 matches. In the two-match Test series that followed, he scored 244 runs at an average of 122 including a hundred and a fifty.
Kohli captained the victorious Indian team at the 2008 U/19 Cricket World Cup held in Malaysia. Batting at number 4, he scored 235 runs in 6 matches at an average of 47, including a century against the West Indies U-19s. He was also commended for making several tactical bowling changes during the tournament. His mother noted that "Virat changed a bit after that day. Overnight he became a much more matured person. He took every match seriously. He hated being on the bench. It's as if his life hinged totally on cricket after that day."
Kohli was instrumental in India's win of the 2009 Emerging Players Tournament in Australia. In the final against South Africa, Kohli scored a century and India went on to win the game by 17 runs. Kohli emerged as the leading run scorer of the tournament, aggregating 398 runs from seven matches including two centuries and two fifties.