Who Is Virat Kohli?

A small kid who used to play in the local cricket teams to now the captain of Indian cricket team, the journey of self-assured, talented Virat Kohli is not only long but also quite inspiring. The Indian International Cricketer is known to be among the best batsman in the present era for his dependable and impressive batting style. He has managed to bring home many victorious awards single-handedly. His craze for cricket is not something new. He had keen interest and potential in this game at a quiet early age and took up the bat at the age of just 3 years. 

Birth And Early Life

The captain of Indian National Cricket Team was born on 5th November 1988 in New Delhi, India to a Punjabi family. His father Prem Kohli was a criminal lawyer and mother a housewife. He has an elder brother Vikas Kohli and an elder sister Bhawna. 

Childhood

He had a special kind of love for cricket and started playing the game at a very early age. He did his schooling from Vishal Bharti Public School and was raised in New Delhi. 

Joined West Delhi Cricket Academy

At the age of 9 years in the year 1998, Virat Kohli joined West Delhi Cricket Academy after his father recognized the potential in him. He was trained under the guidance of Rajkumar Sharma. Just to provide him better options for cricket playground his school was shifted to Savier Convent in Paschim Vihar. 

Hard Times

In the year 2006, Virat Kohli lost his father who had been bedridden for almost a month because of brain stroke. The family had to face hard time and even lived in a rented house.

When this incident took place, Virat was playing a Ranji Trophy match and his team was under the jaws of defeat. The most inspiring decision taken by Virat in such a young age was to postpone his father’s burial and continue his innings to save Delhi from the defeat.

He played an amazing 90 runs knock the next day and took his team out of trouble. When media reporters asked Virat about this decision, he quoted; I wanted to play because for me not completing a cricket game is a sin. That was a moment that changed me as a person. The importance of cricket in my life is very high. 

Played Under 15 Team

For the first time in October 2002, he played for Delhi under 15 Team and soon secured the highest number of runs in the same year. 

Under 17 Career

After gaining a name in under 15 matches in the year 2006, Kohli was selected for India’s under 19 cricket squad and went on a tour to England. In the three days ODI, he scored an average of 105 runs and came back as the winner. With the same zeal, he played against Pakistan in under 19 cricket team and became a permanent fixture by showing his quality batsmanship over and over again. 

State Level Matches

In April 2007, he made his debut in interstate T20 Championship and became the highest scorer for his team. Now his potential was being recognized and appreciated by some people. In the coming year, March 2008 he was made the captain of India’s under 19 cricket team. With this team, he went to play world cup under 19 in Malaysia and returned home victorious. 

The Indian Cricket Team

When both Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar were injured and unavailable, Kohli was called up as the replacement as the opening batsman. Because of his talent, the team scored quite well and won the series against Sri Lanka. 

Captain of Indian Team

When MS Dhoni gave up on T20 captainship and one-day captainship, Virat Kohli was chosen as the captain of Indian Cricket Team in all the three formats. 

Marriage And Love Life

Virat Kohli had been dating Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma since 2013, and the couple was nicknamed Virushka. After staying apart for quite some time, the couple married on 11th December 2017 privately in Florence, Italy. 

Endorsements And Commercial Investments

Just behind Lewis Hamilton, Virat Kohli is the second most remarkable athlete in the world. He became the Co-owner of Indian super league club FC Goa and International Premier Tennis League Franchise UAE Royal. He is also the brand ambassador of London-based, social networking ventures sports Convo. 

Fitness Freak

Virat Kohli follows a very strict and healthy diet. He focuses on his physical activities. His craze for fitness made him invest a lot of money in the year 2015 to start a series of fitness centres and gyms across the country. These were launched under the name Chisel, which is jointly owned by Kohli, Chisel-India, cornerstone sports and entertainment. 

Charity Foundation

Virat Kohli started his Charity Foundation called Virat Kohli Foundation in March 2013 with the aim of helping underprivileged kids and conducting events to raise fund for the same in collaboration with eBay and save the children. 

National honours

2013 - Arjuna Award 

2017 - Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award. 

2018 - Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna 

📜Lessons to take:-

Whatever You Can Think, You Can Achieve it by Hardwork.