Who is Virat Kohli?

October 1, 2012

virat-kohliNew Delhi, October 1: Finding form in cricket is tough. To maintain form is tougher still. For Virat Kohli though, hard-work and a calm approach makes being consistently brilliant, childishly simple.

With more than 25 per cent runs scored by all Indian batsmen in international cricket this year to his credit and part-time bowling that is furthering his prospects, Kohli rushed past Pakistan on Sunday to help his side to another big win. This after a rare error against Australia which had just 15 against his name.

For Kohli, nothing short of a match-winning performance is decent enough. After all, he does have a brilliant knock of 183 against Pakistan to his credit. With the ICC ODI player of the year in his bag and his recent form scripting scintillating wins for India,has become a job description that he can proudly highlight in his resume. And it has been a regular feature.


This 23-year old cricketer hogged the headlines when he went to play a Ranji match a day after his father had passed away.

To touch great heights you need to have deep roots. That is the story of Virat Kohli. His father pushed him into the game cricket but wasn't there when he reached his prime.

The Delhi boy announced himself as India's gen-next, leading India to the under-19 World Cup in 2008.

In his 14th one-dayer for India, half of which he had played as a substitute, Virat fastracked his way to his maiden 100. And his Delhi teammate acknowledged his achievement and gave away his Man of the Match to him.

Consistent success saw Virat get a World Cup call up. And it paid off, as he became the first Indian to score a century on World Cup debut.

In his three and a half year career, Virat has been quite a milestone man. He became the youngest player to lead Delhi in a Ranji game, and also the fastest Indian to get 1000 ODI runs

He's also the only player the Royal Challengers Bangalore retained from their original pool.

In 2011, he was the highest run getter in ODIs, and this year too he's just 5 runs behind Kumar Sangakkara, the leading run getter.


So far he has scored eleven centuries and ten of them have resulted in India wins. In fact he's scored three hundreds in the last four games that he has played.

But it's not just his performances with the bat that have pleased the cricketing world.

After the World Cup win, when Nasser Hussain asked him why he and his teammates carried Sachin Tendulkar on their shoulders, Virat replied: "He has carried us the nation's burden on our shoulders for 21 years. It's time we carried him on our shoulder."

This answer won him many admirers. But it's not just shouldering senior champions; Virat has become quite adept at shouldering the responsibilities of the team when it comes to pacing an innings, a quality that he has displayed in Tests as well. After all, he was the only centurion on India's disastrous tour Down Under.

Virat Kohli's journey to the top has been one, that's filled with hardships. Losing his father at the age of 17, in the middle of a Ranji Trophy match, turned him from a boy to a man, almost overnight.

"It is difficult to suppress such things at such a young age. His father had passed away and he went to play the match. But it was only his willpower. From that very moment he thought positively. From that very moment he became mature. Earlier, he was as bubbly as any kid of that age would be," says his mother.

Vikas Kohli, his brother, believes he couldn't have done what Virat did then. "If I take myself I couldn't have done this."

Virat did it because cricket was his life.


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News Network
June 25,2020

Jun 25: After asserting that the 2011 World Cup final was "sold" by "certain parties" in Sri Lanka to India, the island nation's former sports minister Mahindananda Aluthgamage has now called his claim a "suspicion" that he wants investigated.

The Lankan government has ordered an enquiry into the matter and a special Police investigation unit recorded Aluthgamage's statement on Wednesday. He told the team that he was only suspicious of fixing.

"I want my suspicion investigated," Aluthgamage told reporters.

"I gave to the Police, a copy of the complaint I lodged with the International Cricket Council (ICC) on 30 October 2011 regarding the said allegation as then Sports Minister," he said.

Aluthgamage has alleged that his country "sold" the game to India, a claim that was ridiculed by former captains Kumar Sangakkara and Mahela Jayawardene who demanded evidence from him.

Set a target of 275, India clinched the trophy thanks to the brilliance of Gautam Gambhir (97) and then skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (91).

"Today I am telling you that we sold the 2011 world cup, I said this when I was the sports minister," Aluthgamage, who was the sports minister at the time, had stated.

Sangakkara, the captain of Sri Lanka at that time, asked him to produce evidence for an anti-corruption probe.

"He needs to take his 'evidence' to the ICC and the Anti corruption and Security Unit so the claims can be investigated thoroughly," he tweeted.

Jayawardene, also a former captain who scored a hundred in that game, ridiculed the charge.

"Is the elections around the corner...like the circus has started...names and evidence?" he asked in a tweet.

Aluthgamage said that in his opinion no players were involved in fixing the result, "but certain parties were."

Both Aluthgamage and the then President Mahinda Rajapaksa were among the invitees at the final played at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.

Following his allegations, Aravinda de Silva, the former great who was the then chairman of selectors, has urged the BCCI to conduct its own investigation.

De Silva has said he is willing to travel to India to take part in such an investigation despite the current COVID-19 threat.

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News Network
January 24,2020

Auckland, Jan 24: K L Rahul and Shreyas Iyer smashed quick-fire half-centuries, while skipper Virat Kohli made 45 as India defeated New Zealand by six wickets in the first T20 International to take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series here on Friday.

Chasing a challenging 204-run target, Rahul smashed 56 off 27 balls and together with Kohli shared 99 runs for the second wicket to lay the foundation for the chase.

Later, Iyer (58 not out off 29 balls) and Manish Pandey (14 not out) remained unbeaten as India chased down the target with an over to spare.

Earlier, Colin Munro, Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor smashed scintillating half-centuries to power New Zealand to a challenging 203 for five.

Opener Munro blasted six fours and two sixes in his 42-ball 59, while skipper Williamson treated the Indian bowlers with equal disdain, hitting them out of the park four times in his 26-ball 51.

Taylor then clobbered an unbeaten 54 off 27 balls. His innings was laced with three sixes and as many fours.

Opener Martin Guptill also chipped in with a 19-ball 30.

Earlier, India skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and decided to field.

For India, Jasprit Bumrah (1/), Shardul Thakur (1/44), Yuzvendra Chahal (1/32), Shivam Dube (1/24) and Ravindra Jadeja (1/18) snapped one wicket each.

Brief Score:

New Zealand: 203 for 5 in 20 overs (Colin Munro 59, Kane Williamson 51, Ross Taylor 54; Jasprit Bumrah 1/31).

India: 204 for 4 in 19 overs (Shreyas Iyer 58 not out, K L Rahul 56, Virat Kohli 45; Ish Sodhi 2/36).

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News Network
July 20,2020

The International Cricket Council (ICC) today confirmed the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup in Australia 2020 has been postponed due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic

At today’s meeting of the IBC Board (the commercial subsidiary of the ICC), windows for the next three ICC men’s events were also agreed to bring clarity to the calendar and give the sport the best possible opportunity over the next three years to recover from the disruption caused by COVID-19.

The windows for the Men’s events are:

1. ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2021 will be held October – November 2021 with the final on 14 November 2021

2. ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2022 will be held October – November 2022 with the final on 13 November 2022

3. ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 will be held in India October – November 2023 with the final on 26 November 2023

The IBC Board agreed to continue to monitor the rapidly changing situation and assess all the information available in order to make a considered decision on future hosts to ensure the sport is able to stage safe and successful global events in 2021 and 2022.

The IBC Board will also continue to evaluate the situation in relation to being able to stage the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021 in New Zealand in February next year. In the meantime, planning for this event continues as scheduled.

The Board will also continue to evaluate the situation in relation to being able to stage the ICC Women’s Cricket World Cup 2021.

ICC Chief Executive Manu Sawhney said: “We have undertaken a comprehensive and complex contingency planning exercise and through this process, our number one priority has been to protect the health and safety of everyone involved in the sport.

“The decision to postpone the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup was taken after careful consideration of all of the options available to us and gives us the best possible opportunity of delivering two safe and successful T20 World Cups for fans around the world.

“Our Members now have the clarity they need around event windows to enable them to reschedule lost bilateral and domestic cricket. Moving the Men’s Cricket World Cup to a later window is a critical element of this and gives us a better chance of maintaining the integrity of the qualification process. This additional time will be used to reschedule games that might be lost because of the pandemic ensuring qualification can be decided on the field of play.

“Throughout this process we have worked closely with our key stakeholders including governments, Members, broadcasters, partners and medical experts to enable us to reach a collective decision for the good of the game and our fans. I would like to thank everyone involved for their commitment to a safe return to cricket.”

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