A small kid passionate about cricket conquered the sporting field in the blink of an eye. The best batsmen in the world did not become so overnight. It took him years of practice, sleepless nights, tonnes of injuries, and most importantly passion! The success story of Virat is no less than fiction. Let us now take a look at Virat Kohli’s journey.
Early Life and Struggles
Virat was born on 5th November 1988 in Delhi. His father Prem Kohli was a criminal lawyer and mother housewife. He loved cricket even at a very young age. At just 9, he joined the West Delhi Cricket Academy. Kohli started his formal cricketing career with the Delhi under 15 teams. Owing to his breathtaking performance, he was chosen in India under 19 team in the year 2006 for the tour of England. Following this, he also debuted in first-class cricket for Delhi. However, the family was shook when his father died because of a heart stroke in 2006. The braveheart decided to play for his team against Karnataka a day after his father’s demise.
The Indian Cricket Team
In the year 2008, Virat first played for the Indian Cricket ODI team for the tour of Srilanka. He was also the part of 2008 England tour, although he did not get a chance to play.
In 2010, the king found a chance to play in all 5 matches of the tri-nation ODI tournament in Bangladesh. He scored a crucial 91 to help India win a match! He played exceptionally well. As a result, he was named the highest runner in the series. He was also the third batsman in the world to score two ODI centuries before their 22nd birthday. There were bigger things coming which probably no one knew! Virat Kohli was Vice-captain in the tri-series against Srilanka and Zimbabwe 2010 itself and there was no looking back.
Captaincy and the Golden Era
M. S. Dhoni shocked the entire nation when he stepped down from captaincy. The Champions Trophy of 2017 was his first ICC Tournament as the captain. Even though he scored 3 half-centuries the team lost the grand-finale. However, the heartache did not last long. Virat Kohli led team India to a historic ODI series victory in South Africa in February 2018. It was special because no other captain had ever been able to lead his team to victory in South Africa.
There were 10 one-day international series played between the Champions Trophy and the 2019 WorldCup. Out of which India won 8. These numbers were enough to take the captaincy decision in favor of King Kohli. Above all, the team performed exceptionally well in the league matches. India topped the charts throughout the series. However, the hearts of fans were broken soon, when men in blue were outclassed in the semi-final. The issue that haunted the Asian Giant was the lack of a perfect player at number 4. These were the years of Virat Kohli’s rise. He was on cloud nine and received both national and international fame.
Virat Kohli’s journey is incomplete without the mention of IPL and Royal Challengers Banglore. Although they haven’t won any trophies the audience loves them! A majority of the credit goes to Virat for managing the team so well on the field.
Also Read- Virat Kohli T20I Captaincy Record
Downfall in career and captaincy
Virat’s journey as a captain ended when he opened up on his decision to quit as India’s T20I captaincy. On November 8th, 2021 Kohli informed the nation that he will be leading the team for one last time. The Indian team then went under Rohit Sharma’s captaincy for the limited overs. After a few days he also announced that he would no longer be the captain of RCB in IPL. Although he did mention that will only play for RCB until hus retirement from the game of cricket. The latest wound for fans being that Rohit Sharma takes over as India’s full-time white-ball captain. On December, 8th 2021, BCCI announced that Rohit Sharma will take over the responsibility of the team from Virat Kohli. Rumours have it that King Kohli was given 48 hours to step down from the position ‘willingly’.
Although he has the best average (72.65) for ODI captains in the history of the sport, lack of a major ICC title in the last 4 years has been the reason for a major downfall. However we are sure enough that run-machine will bounce back and make the nation prouder than ever. We just hope to see an uphill in Virat Kohli’s journey.
