Virat Kohli completes 12 years of International cricket

On 18 August, 2008, a young 19-year old Virat Kohli made his International ODI debut against Sri Lanka for the Indian team, at the Dambulla International Stadium. He didn’t have the best of the starts at the top level as he was dismissed for 12 runs after he was plumbed in front by swing bowler Nuwan Kulasekara.

The Delhi right-hander had opened the innings in the five-match series and had replaced Indian opener Virender Sehwag. Kohli returned with scores of 12, 37, 25, 54 and 31 in the five-match series.

However, he was dropped from the national team despite decent performances and didn’t play for another year. He made a comeback in the final of the Compaq Cup. Subsequently, Kohli was able to cement his place in the side after coming up with consistent performances.

Meanwhile, Virat Kohli is currently the best batsman in all the three forms of the game. Kohli has been a consistent performer and he is the solitary batsman to have an average of more than 50 in all the three forms of the game. The talisman is currently placed at the numero uno position in the ICC ODI rankings whereas he is placed at the second position in the Test rankings.

Kohli has been instrumental in the success of the team and he has scored his runs in all kinds of conditions. The right-hander is always known to give his 120% on the field and his hunger for the runs is insatiable.

Kohli has scored 7240 runs in 86 Test matches at an average of 53.63. The Indian captain has amassed 11867 runs in 248 ODI matches at an impressive average of 59.34. In fact, he has an average of 96.21 in India’s successful run-chases. Kohli is the highest run-getter in the T20I format as he has accumulated 2794 runs in 81 T20I matches at an average of 50.8.

Kohli would be seen leading Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL, which will kickstart from September 19 in the UAE.