Virat Kohli made his Test debut in 2011. He reached the number one spot in the ICC rankings for ODI batsmen for the first time in 2013. He has won Man of the Tournament twice at the ICC World Twenty20 (in 2014 and 2016). He also holds the world record of being the fastest to 23,000 international runs.
Virat Kohli has been the recipient of many awards, most notably the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Men's Cricketer of the Decade): 2011–2020; Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Cricketer of the Year) in 2017 and 2018; ICC Test Player of the Year (2018); ICC ODI Player of the Year (2012, 2017, 2018) and Wis den Leading Cricketer in the World (2016, 2017 and 2018). At the national level, he was awarded the Arjuna Award in 2013, the Parma Sri under the sports category in 2017 and the Rajiv Gandhi Keel Patna, award the highest sporting honor in India, in 2018.
In 2016, he was ranked as one of the world's most famous athletes by ESPN one of the most valuable athlete brands by Forbes. In 2018, Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2020, he was ranked 66th in Forbes list of the top 100 highest-paid athletes in the world for the year 2020 with estimated earnings of over $26 million.
Early life
Virat Kohli was born on 5 November 1988 in New Delhi into a Punjabi Hindu family. His father, Prem Kohl, worked as a criminal lawyer and his mother, Sara Kohl, is a homemaker. He has an older brother, Vikash, and an older sister, Havana.
Virat Kohli was raised in Ut tam Nagar and started his schooling at Vishal Barth Public School. In 1998, the West Delhi Cricket Academy was created and a nine-year-old Virat Kohli was part of its first intake. Virat Kohli trained at the academy under Rajkumar Sharma and also played matches at the Summit Dora Academy at Vasundhara Enclave at the same time. In ninth grade, he shifted to Savior Convent in Passim Vicar to help his cricket practice. His family lived in Me era Bag until 2015 when they moved to Gurgaon.
Virat Kohli father died on 18 December 2006 due to a stroke after being bedridden for a month.
Playing style
Virat Kohli playing his famous flick shot in CWC 2015
Virat Kohli is a naturally aggressive batsman, strong technical skills. He usually bats at the no.3 position in ODI cricket. He bats with a slightly open-chested stance and a strong bottom-hand grip. He is not a big hitter and plays more grounded shots. He is known for his wide range of shots, ability to pace an innings and batting under pressure. He is strong through the mid-wicket and cover region. He has said that the cover drive is his favorite shot, while also saying that the flick shot comes naturally to him. He does not play the sweep shot often, being called "not a natural sweeper of the cricket ball". Virat Kohli is strong on leg stump line bowling. If bowled at leg stump, he plays a flick shot.
According to cricket pundit VVS Lax man, for Virat Kohli, balling line outside the off stump is his weakness. He got out many times by outside off stump line ball and opposition team's bowlers tries to exploit his weakness in Test as well as ODI. Out swinging balls his one of the weakness as per Richard Had lee. Cricket pundit and former India Cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar feels the same that offside off stump line is his weakness.
His teammates have praised his confidence, commitment, focus and work ethics. Virat Kohli is also known to be a "sharp" fielder.
Virat Kohli is regarded as the best limited-overs batsman in the world, especially while chasing. In ODI, he averages around 69 in matches batting second as opposed to around 51 batting first, 26 of his 43 ODI hundreds have come in run-chases, and he holds the record for most hundreds batting second.
Aggression
Virat Kohli is noted for his on-field aggression, and was described in the media as "brash" and "arrogant" during his early career. He has got into confrontations with players and umpires on several occasions. While many former cricketers have backed his aggressive attitude, some have criticized it. In 2012, Virat Kohli had stated that he tries to limit his aggressive, behavior but the build-up and the pressure or the special occasions make it tough to control the aggression.
Comparisons to Tendulkar
Virat Kohli is often compared to Tendulkar, due to their similar styles of batting, and sometimes referred to as Tendulkar's "successor". Many former cricketers expect Virat Kohli to break Tendulkar's batting records. He is ranked as one of the world's most famous athletes by ESPN. Virat Kohli has stated that growing up his idol and role model was Tendulkar and that as a kid he tried to copy the shots Tendulkar played and hit sixes the way he used to hit them. Former West Indies great Vivian Richards, who is regarded as the most destructive batsman in cricket, stated that Virat Kohli reminds him of himself. In early 2015, Richards said Virat Kohli was already legendary in the ODI format, while former Australian cricketer Dean Jones called Virat Kohli the new king of world cricket. Akash Chopra, an Indian commentator, stated that Tendulkar had more shots as compared to him.
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