'14 marvellous years' - Twitter goes berserk on Virat Kohli's international debut anniversary

India has been one of the leading manufacturers of top-class batters, from the time of Sunil Gavaskar to Mohammad Azharuddin to Sachin Tendulkar. But, arguably there has been none more ambitious, competitive and self-driven than Virat Kohli. Kohli, an epitome of flamboyance, ambition and winning mentality, made his international debut on this very day, 14 years ago.

Kohli made his debut against Sri Lanka in Dambulla in an ODI on August 18, 2008, and what followed is history. It has been an illustrious 14 years for Kohli, donning the blue jersey, making strides from being a young, talented, chubby cricketer to being one of the fittest and most prolific India players of all time. He is arguably the biggest cricketing superstar in the world, at the moment.

Apart from his early domestic stint as an 18-year-old with Delhi, it was during the 2008 Under-19 World Cup when Kohli caught the attention, captaining the Indian under-19 side. The Indian team went on to win the tournament in Malaysia, and later that year he even earned a contract with Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Indian Premier League (IPL). And a few months later, came the landmark moment, receiving the cap number 175 in Dambulla.

Virat Kohli – the history maker

Kohli in his 14 years of international career has broken a number of records and set the bar high for the next crop of players. He has scored 8,074 runs in 102 Tests, 12,344 runs in 262 ODIs and 3,308 runs in 99 T20Is. He averages 49.53 in the longest format, and 55.57 in white-ball cricket. 

Kohli has 27 centuries in Test cricket and 43 tons in ODIs, and he still threatens to surpass Tendulkar’s record of 100 hundreds in international cricket. He was also part of the Indian team that won the World Cup in 2011 and was also the Player of the Tournament of the T20 World Cups in 2014 and 2016. 

Kohli replaced MS Dhoni as India’s Test captain in 2015 and went on to be one of the most successful captains in the format. His resume as the India skipper boasts successive away series wins against Australia, a 2-2 drawn away series against a strong England side. In the white-ball circuit, he led India to a final in the 2017 Champions Trophy and 2019 World Cup semifinal. He might not be in his prime, at the moment. But his contribution to Indian cricket is unparalleled and virtually insurmountable.

Here’s how Twitter celebrated Virat Kohli’s international debut anniversary: