Born on 5 November 1988 was a young kid who could be the future legend. It’s none other than the current super hero of India Virat Kohli. He at present is the vice-captain of the Indian Cricket Team and could go on to be the captain of tomorrow.
He made his ODI debut in the India-Australia series in 2008. Since then there was no looking back.
Virat Kohli is a middle-order batsman, who is brilliant in batting and exceptional with his fielding. He can also bowl right arm medium pace.
Virat Kohli became the 35th Indian to play 100 One Day Internationals for India. He also is the fastest player to score 1000 runs in ODI cricket.
He played his 100th ODI on 11 June 2013 at the Oval, in a crucial match for India against West Indies in the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy.
Virat Kohli has given all the credit of his success to his mom as she single handedly brought him up after the death of his father when he was just 18.
In a press conference Virat Kohli said, “Thank you mom for being my angel”.
As per Virat Cricket is his life, as right from his childhood days he has played this game every single day irrespective of the weather condition even in the heavy monsoons.
Virat has tasted success in all formats of his career including Tests, ODIs and T20s.
He has also been a part of the Indian squad which won the ICC World Cup in 2011 held in India and played a crucial part with his brilliant fielding and his batting.
Kohli was also the captain of the victorious Indian team at the 2008 U/19 Cricket World Cup held in Malaysia.
He represents Delhi in first-class cricket and is the captain of the Royal Challengers Bangalore franchise in the Indian Premier League.
He played a crucial part in the recent whitewash of England in the India-England ODI series with his brilliant fielding and sensible batting. He was adjudged Man Of the Series.
Kohli was also the recipient of the ICC ODI Player of the Year award in 2012.
He has already made his mark in the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy 2013 with his brilliant century against Sri Lanka in the Warm-Up match.
Virat Kohli is currently ranked 3rd in the ICC ODI Rankings.
Just like all of us he too has a tragic story.
One night during December 2006, when Virat Kohli was with the Delhi Team in Karnataka for his debut Ranji Season. He got a call at 3 am to know that his father Prem Kohli has died after being on the bed for a month due to a brain stroke. At that moment Virat was the overnight batsman for Delhi. He was in two minds whether to play or not and called his coach who was in Australia. His coach advised him to play as such chances does not come every day and it is difficult to make it to the team. He went on to make 90 (on which he got out on a wrong decision) in that innings and saved the follow on for his team. He went straight to his dad's funeral after that innings and didn’t take part in the rest of the match. He was only 18 at that time and even the Karnataka player’s couldn’t resist themselves from applauding him for his commitment and mental strength. His mom's words on this incident- "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. Now, it looks like he was chasing his father's dream which was his own too."
As it is said “Behind every successful man is a woman”, In Virat’s case also it’s the same – his mom.
Virat Kohli is my inspiration and my role model as I too aspire to become a cricketer and I believe that he is the role model of millions of other young kids who dream of being cricketers and representing their nation one day.
Let’s all Bleed Blue and support the Indian Team to get the ICC Champions Trophy Home.
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