The youngest among three siblings, Kohli was born in Delhi and had a passion for cricket from an age of just three. He would often play gully cricket and it was then that the neighbours suggested that Kohli should get professional training. It was around this time, in the year 1998 that West Delhi Cricket Academy was formed and Kohli was among one of the first students there. Kohli was not only good in cricket, he was an excellent student and is admired by his teachers.
In 2008, Kohli was taken in the Indian Cricket ODI team for the tour of Srilanka and the Champions Trophy to
Pakistan. He scored his first fifty in the fourth match, at an age of 19. Kohli was taken as a replacement
for an injured Shikhar Dhawan for the unofficial test tour to Australia where he batted once and scored 49.
In 2008, during India’s England tour, although Kohli was a part of the team, he did not get a chance to play
in the team due to the presence of Tendulkar and Sehwag. He was also selected in the four-team Emerging
Players Tournament in Australia in 2009 where his performance impressed the world.
Kohli started to be taken in most of the series that India played around this time but was taken more as a
replacement of injured players rather than being taken as a permanent and indispensable player. The feat
with IPL, however, continued where Kohli continued to play exceptionally well and earn accolades.
In 2010, since Tendulkar was rested from the team, Kohli found a chance to play in all the 5 matches of the
tri-nation ODI tournament in Bangladesh. In the match against Bangladesh, when India while chasing 297 was
struggling at 51/3, Kohli scored 91 to help India win the match. Kohli played exceptionally well becoming
the highest runner in the series and became the third batsman in the world to score two ODI centuries before
their 22nd birthday, the first two being Sachin Tendulkar and Suresh Raina. He was praised for his
outstanding performance, especially by the Indian captain M.S. Dhoni.
Kohli was named as the vice-captain in the tri-series against Srilanka and Zimbabwe 2010 itself and there
was no looking back. He became the fastest Indian batsman to reach 1000 runs in ODI cricket. Although he
struggled with his form sometimes, but his perseverance earned him a permanent spot in the Indian team. He
played in the International World Cup and was one of the main players who steered India to victory after 28
years.
Kohli however, earned the tag of an ODI player due to his high run rates and was not thought to be a Test
player by the experts of cricket. He proved everybody wrong when he made 132 in the test tour of Australia,
2011. With his consistent performances and aggressive style, he was chosen unanimously as the captain for
tests when Dhoni retired from the 5 day format in the 2014/15 series against Australia
2013 - Arjuna Award
2017 - Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award.
2018 - Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna
Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Cricketer of the Year): 2017,2018
ICC ODI Player of the Year: 2012,2017,2018
ICC Test Player of the Year: 2018
ICC ODI Team of the Year: 2012, 2014, 2016 (captain), 2017 (captain), 2018 (captain), 2019 (captain)
ICC Test Team of the Year: 2017 (captain), 2018 (captain), 2019 (captain)
ICC Spirit of Cricket :2019
Polly Umrigar Award for International Cricketer of the Year: 2011–12, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18
Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World: 2016,2017,2018
CEAT International Cricketer of the Year: 2011–12, 2013–14, 2018-19
People's Choice Awards India For Favourite Sportsperson: 2012
Barmy Army - International Player of Year: 2017, 2018
A stand at Arun Jaitley Stadium is named Virat Kohli Stand on 12 September 2019
”To become a good player, you need Talent.
To become a great player, you need an ATTITUDE like Kohli”.
- Sunil Gavaskar