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Virat Kohli
India
Personal Information
Born Nov 05, 1988 (31 years) Birth Place Delhi Height 5 ft 9 in (175 cm) Role
Batsman Batting Style Right Handed Bat Bowling Style Right-arm medium ICC Rankings
TestODIT20Batting 1 1 9 Bowling -- -- -- Career InformationTeams India, Delhi,
India Red, India U19, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Board Presidents XI, North Zone,
Indians, India A
A spunky, chubby teenager with gelled hair shot to fame after leading India to
glory in the Under-19 World Cup at Kuala Lumpur in early 2008. In an Indian team
filled with saint-like icons w...
Full profile
Batting Career Summary
M Inn NO Runs HS Avg BF SR 100 200 50 4s 6s
Test 84 141 10 7202 254 54.98 12457 57.81 27 7 22 805 22
ODI 245 236 39 11792 183 59.86 12626 93.39 43 0 57 1109 121
T20I 80 75 21 2783 94 51.54 2012 138.32 0 0 24 256
76
IPL 177 169 26 5412 113 37.85 4112 131.61 5 0 36 480
190
Bowling Career Summary
M Inn B Runs Wkts BBI BBM Econ Avg SR 5W 10W
Test 84 10 169 80 0 0/0 0/0 2.84 0.0 0.0 0 0
ODI 245 48 641 665 4 1/15 1/15 6.22 166.25 160.25 0
0
T20I 80 12 146 198 4 1/13 1/13 8.14 49.5 36.5 0 0
IPL 177 26 251 368 4 2/25 2/25 8.8 92.0 62.75 0 0
Career Information
Test debut vs West Indies at Sabina Park, Jun 20, 2011 Last Test vs Bangladesh at
Eden Gardens, Nov 22, 2019 ODI debut vs Sri Lanka at Rangiri Dambulla International
Stadium, Aug 18, 2008 Last ODI vs Australia at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Jan 19, 2020
T20 debut vs Zimbabwe at Harare Sports Club, Jun 12, 2010 Last T20 vs New Zealand
at Seddon Park, Jan 29, 2020 IPL debut vs Kolkata Knight Riders at M.Chinnaswamy
Stadium, Apr 18, 2008 Last IPL vs Sunrisers Hyderabad at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, May
04, 2019 ProfileA spunky, chubby teenager with gelled hair shot to fame after
leading India to glory in the Under-19 World Cup at Kuala Lumpur in early 2008. In
an Indian team filled with saint-like icons worthy of their own hagiographies,
Virat Kohli, with his most un-Indian, 'bad-boy' intensity, would clearly be an
outcast.
The 20-year-old continued to impress for Delhi and dominated attacks, clearly
demonstrating that he belonged at a much higher level; that junior cricket was
beneath his standards. Kohli then traveled to Australia in 2009 for the Emerging
players tournament and stamped his authority all over the bowling attacks. He added
'big-match temperament' to his résumé too, lacing a fluent hundred in the final
against South Africa, and guiding his team to a clinical victory. The young
prodigy, barely old enough to receive his man-of-the-match champagne, ended the
tournament with 398 runs from 7 outings with two centuries and two fifties,
ensuring that he remained fresh in the selectors' minds.
In the hangover of the World Cup euphoria, Kohli continued to take giant strides in
the limited-overs format. Three years after his ODI debut, he was finally handed
the coveted Test cap in the Caribbean islands in July 2011, owing to the need to
rest the senior players. After a series each against the Dukes ball and the SG
ball, it was now time for his trial against the Kookaburra Down Under. In the first
two Tests, he seemed to lack the technique to play in Australia, maintaining his
low stance on the bouncy tracks. He also had a rather restricting trigger movement
with his front-foot routinely coming across towards off-stump, thereby hindering
the necessary movement to play back-foot shots such as the pull and the cut.
While he grappled and clawed his way into the Test side, he went on a record-
breaking spree in ODIs: the Indian record for the fastest to multiples-of-thousand
runs in ODIs, culminating in the world record for the fastest to 9000 runs in ODIs.
He was also the highest run-scorer for India in ODIs for three consecutive calendar
years - 2010, 2011 and 2012 and won the ICC ODI cricketer of the year award in
2012.
King Kohli had arrived. The king of the run-chase, and a plethora of ODI records in
the modern age.
Technical Shortcomings
However, his slightly unconventional bottom-hand technique results in some
technical shortcomings and lack of versatility. Kohli has dealt with swing bowling
well, which is late and difficult to pick, but still less abrupt than seam bowling,
which is almost unnatural and catches you off-guard. He is, without a doubt, one of
the most gifted cricketers who has also worked very hard on his game and fitness.
As a result, he picks the length early and has a swift and decisive backward or
forward movement. However, he picks up the line early too, and as a result, reacts
to it equally early. This is quite amazing in itself; however, on pitches lacking
true bounce and aiding seam movement, it brings about his downfall. Virat tends to
'run his hands through the ball' beside him rather than punching it late under his
line of vision (a virtue that his compatriot Ajinkya Rahane excels at).
However, against the raised seam of the Dukes ball and the skillful bowling of
Anderson, Kohli's technical shortcomings were exposed when India toured England in
2014 for a grueling 5-Test series. He scored just 134 runs in ten innings, edging
the ball to the slips by reaching out for it, and showing poor awareness of his
off-stump; rather surprising for a batsman of his calibre. It was worrying that
India's star batsman had failed them in trying conditions.
He continues his struggles when exposed to the new ball and on 'sticky wickets'.
His quiet series against South Africa in late 2015 was full of rank-turners; his
injury-marred series against Australia in early 2017 had several wickets that were
not conducive to batting; and the England series in 2014, of course. Barring that,
the glaring dips in his batting, or 'aberrations', such as Brisbane 2014, Gros
Islet 2016, and Pune 2017, have all come in difficult batting conditions, and he
has been dismissed – believe it or not – by a chink in his batting technique.
As India prepared for their title defence ahead of the 2015 World Cup Down Under,
with the catch phrase 'Won't give it back' doing the rounds, Virat Kohli was touted
to be a key performer for India. The Indians had a terrible run in Australia,
having failed to win a single match in the Test series as well as the succeeding
ODI tri-series. Kohli started off in signature fashion, with a typically stroke-
filled hundred against Pakistan as India maintained their unbeaten run against
their arch-rivals in ICC events. As India stormed into the semi-finals unbeaten,
Kohli's form continued to take an uncharacteristic dip, culminating in a
painstaking 1 in the semi-final loss against the co-hosts and eventual champions,
Australia.
Kohli, now the full-time Test captain, toured Sri Lanka with a young side without
the services of Mahendra Singh Dhoni, wary of the Sri Lankan spinners' fabled 4th
innings con-job. After losing the first Test, Kohli's India recorded a dramatic
come-from-behind win in the series, going on to win 2-1. Kohli continued to build
on his auspicious start to Test captaincy as he led them to a rout of the South
Africans on a series of rank-turners all around India. He had a quiet series with
the bat, as the more stoic batsmen of his team took over. Nonetheless, the triumph
took India to the No. 1 spot in the ICC Test rankings for the first time since they
forfeited it to England after the forgettable white-wash in 2011.
However, it isn't beyond Kohli to prove his critics wrong yet again, as he
continues to take criticism on his stride, setting new standards for modern
batsmanship. He already possesses an insatiable appetite for runs; and if he can
correct this small chink in his armour and adjust his technique to play late and
more compact shots in front of him, rather than beside him, then no force could
stop him from becoming the perfect batsman. And as a captain, ruthless as he has
been at home, if he can hand India the elusive Test series wins in Australia and
South Africa, 'unprecedented' won't even begin to describe the extent of his
achievements as a leader.
However, being a cricket romantic (as we all are), as we reflect on his prolific
international career (and with a plethora of records to be broken over the next
decade) one must look back at the CB series knock that changed it all. On that
fateful night at Hobart, Kohli had not only kept his team in contention, he had
actually dragged a drained Indian side out of the airport. That night, at the
Bellerive Oval, Virat Kohli transcended into a league of his own to etch his name
in history - and a cricketing superstar was born.
Ahead of the 2019 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL), Virat Kohli showed
how much faith he had in the franchise by declaring that he would perhaps end his
career with the Bangalore-based Royal Challengers. The only player to be a part of
a single franchise for the entire duration of the tournament (right from the start
of the cash-rich league in 2008), Kohli has developed an affection with the
franchise and with the fans over the period of time.
Having been brought into the franchise as a young emerging player in 2008, Kohli's
growth has been stupendous. He learnt under the wings of Rahul Dravid and Anil
Kumble, before finally establishing himself under Daniel Vettori. It wasn't a free-
flowing start, in a team that was struggling to find the essence of the tournament,
it wasn't a surprise that they had a struggling youngster in the midst. Having
learnt the ropes in the first three-year cycle, it wasn't a surprise that he was
the only player retained in 2011. The purple patch began somewhere around that
region, he then proved it wasn't just a purple patch, it was a career that was
beginning to flourish. Soon after, Kohli became the best in all aspects, not just
white-ball cricket, but in the red-ball version as well.