24 Interesting Facts about Virat Kohli - Inordinate Conqueror

24 Interesting Facts about Virat Kohli – Inordinate Conqueror: Virat Kohli, the India’s run machine is regarded as one of the best batsmen at the moment. He is widely known as dangerous batsmen in world cricket, especially in ODI format due to his aggressive attitude and makes his bat talk.

Here we present you 24 Interesting Facts about Virat Kohli – Inordinate Conqueror:

1. Debut in junior level Cricket:

Virat Kohli made his Under 15 debut for Delhi against Himachal Pradesh in the 2002 Polly Umrigar Trophy.

He made his Under 17 debut for Delhi against Punjab in the 2004 Vijay Merchant Trophy, where he was 2nd top scorer in the tournament by scoring 470 runs in 5 innings at an average of 117.50 including an unbeaten 251.

Later in 2005, he made his Under 19 debut against Haryana during the Vinoo Mankad Trophy.

2. Debut in professional Cricket:

At the age of 17, Virat Kohli made his professional Cricket debut in 2008 in a List A game for Delhi vs Services. Later in the same year, Kohli made his First Class debut against Tamil Nadu.

Unlike in his List A and FC debuts, Virat Kohli made his contribution on Twenty20 debut which was in 2007 where he scored a quick-fire 34.

3. Dedication towards the sport:

Kohli featured in Dehli XI during a home fixture against Karnataka in 2006-07. The visiting side, who batted first scored 446. Kohli had to come out to bat at Delhi’s loss of 3 wickets at a score of just 14 runs. He got a good support from Punit Bisht as Delhi ended day 2 at 103/5 with Kohli (40) and Bisht (28) at the crease.

Later in the day, Virat Kohli heard a tragically news about the demise of his father. However, Kohli resumed his innings on the following day and added 50 more runs to his overnight score and got out on 90 after putting a 162 run stand with Bisht lasted about 50 overs. His and Bisht fight helped Delhi to escape from conceding an outright win to Karnataka.

4. Under 19 debuts:

Virat Kohli made his Under 19 One Day debut against England U19s in 2006 along with Ishant Sharma and Steven Finn, Adam Lyth for England. He scored an unbeaten 64 in the game which was won by India U19s.

Virat Kohli made his Youth Test Cricket debut against the same England U19s in 2006 along with Ishant Sharma, while Steven Finn, Adam Lyth and Adil Rashid made their respective debuts for England. In that game, Kohli scored a 123 which was ended in a draw.

Later he went on to lead Indian U19s squad in 2008 U19 World Cup.

5. Success in Under 19 World Cup:

Virat Kohli led the India side in the U19 World Cup in 2008 which had famous names like Ravindra Jadeja and Manish Pandey.

India went on to be crowned as champions with Virat Kohli ending the tournament as 3rd top scorer and 2nd highest from India with 235 runs in 6 innings at an average of 47. His century against West Indies U19s was one of the 3 centuries recorded during U19 World Cup 2008.

The tournament saw future top cricketing players namely, Steven Smith, Ahmed Shehzad, Wayne Parnell, Kane Williamson, Trent Boult, Corey Anderson, Nasir Hossain, Phillip Hughes, Darren Bravo, Kusal Perera, Lahiru Thirimanne, Tim Southee, Josh Hazlewood and many other players.

6. Records in Youth Test Cricket:

123 – Virat Kohli’s score on his Youth Test Cricket debut against England U19s in 2006.

932 – Virat Kohli’s runs in Youth Test Cricket. He is the 5th highest run getter and 2nd most from India in the youth test format.

9 – Virat Kohli’s fifty plus scores in youth test cricket. Only Pakistan’s Hasan Raza has more fifty-plus scores in this format.

3 – Centuries scored by Virat Kohli’ in his youth test cricket career. He is one of the 8 players who has hit 3 or more centuries in this format.

7. International Debut:

Virat Kohli made his International Cricket debut on 18th August, 2008 against Sri Lanka in an ODI at Dambulla at an age of 20. He opened the innings for India and scored 12 runs.

8. Mohammad Nissar Trophy:

Mohammad Nissar Trophy was played between Ranji Trophy Champions’ Delhi and Quaid-e-Azam Trophy’s champions’ Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited in 2008 at Feroz Shah Kotla.

Delhi conceded a big lead despite a fifty from Kohli. However, in 2nd innings he got a great support from Aakash Chopra as they tested the patience of the visiting team. They both put on a partnership of 385 for the 2nd wicket, which is the highest FC partnership for 2nd wicket for Delhi in First class Cricket. Virat Kohli recorded his best FC score with a 197, which came in just 274 balls.

9. Success in Vijay Hazare Trophy:

Virat Kohli set the Vijay Hazare Trophy on fire in the 2008/09 season as he blasted 534 runs in just 7 innings at an average of 89 which includes 4 centuries.

10. Success in IPL:

Virat Kohli was bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore for the maiden edition of the league and have kept retaining him over the years. Kohli was made as the captain of the side 2012 edition. With 4110 runs at an average of 38.05, Kohli is the top run-scorer in IPL.

11. Centuries in ODI Cricket:

Virat Kohli’s first ODI century came against Sri Lanka in December, 2009 at Kolkata in a 300+ run chase. Since then, he scored 26 centuries extending his ODI centuries. He broke the record for fastest to ‘n’ ODI century from 9th to 26th. However, Hashim Amla outplayed in 9th to 23rd ODI centuries.

Also Read – Top 10 Batsmen with most ODI centuries

12. Run machine in ODI Cricket:

Once Virat Kohli became a regular member in Indian ODI side, he kept scoring runs like a machine. He was among the top 3 fastest to 4000, 5000 and 6000 ODI runs.

13. How Virat Kohli got the name “Cheeku”:

Delhi State coach Ajit Chaudhary was the one who gave Virat his nickname Cheeku. He once quoted, “Virat came to me one day, sporting a spiked look, which he had laboriously tended to with a lot of hair gel. When he asked me if I liked his new look, I told him he looked like the funny bunny from Champak’s (Hindi comic book) Cheeku series. The name stuck.” Later, Ajit heard Dhoni calling him Cheeku on the stump mike. When Ajit asked him, Dhoni simply said, “Aapka Cheeku ab Team India ka bhi Cheeku ban gaya hain (Your Cheeku is now Team India’s Cheeku too),” and they both laughed.

14. Test debut:

Virat Kohli made his Test debut against West Indies at Kingston in June, 2011. His maiden fifty came against the same opposition in November, 2011 at Mumbai where he scored fifties in both the innings of the game. Couple of months later he got to his maiden test century against Australia at Adelaide.

15. Centuries when it mattered:

India needed to chase down a target of 320 inside 40 overs to keep their hopes alive on the CB series final in 2012 against Sri Lanka at Hobart. Kohli, with an unbeaten 133 off 86 balls ensured India chased it by 37th over itself.

A month later in Asia Cup, against Pakistan Kohli smashed a 183 while chasing 330 in a do or die game. Virat Kohli’s 183 was jointly the 2nd highest individual score in ODI Cricket while chasing.

16. Fastest ODI centuries for India:

During home ODI series Virat Kohli blasted the 2 fastest ODI tons for India. Fastest one came in 2nd ODI during the chase of 360, where he smashed a 52-ball century at Jaipur. Later at Nagpur, he completed his century in just 61 balls during chase, the 3rd fastest century in ODIs for India and ensured India’s victory.

17. Man of the tournament in World T20:

Virat Kohli was awarded man of the tournament award during 2014 World T20 and 2016 World T20. He is also the highest run-getter for India in T20I format.

18. Stand-in captain:

In 2013, for the first time captaincy was handed over to Virat Kohli after MS Dhoni got injured during Tri-Series in West Indies. Kohli led the team to the final from where MS Dhoni took over again. So far, under Kohli, India clean swept Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka.

19. Test Captaincy:

Virat Kohli acted as stand-in captain in Tests for the first time during Australia tour at Adelaide. Following MS Dhoni’s retirement from tests, Kohli became regular captain. He had a great start with the bat as a captain as he scored 4 centuries in his first 4 tests as captain.

Later he ended India’s 23-year old drought of a series win in Sri Lanka as the team he led there won the series 2-1.

20. Beast while chasing:

Virat Kohli’s numbers in ODIs while chasing is outstanding. He averages 85.97 in successful run chases, the 3rd best average for any player. While batting 2nd, his average is 63.52, the highest for any player. He has hit 16 centuries while chasing, only behind Sachin Tendulkar. In successful run chases, Kohli has hit 14 ODI centuries.

21. Average of 45 and more in all the 3 formats:

Virat Kohli has an average of 45+ in each of the 3 formats. Among the players with minimum 1000 runs scored in each of the 3 formats, only Kohli has an average over 45 in all forms of the game.

22. Honors:

He was named as BCCI’s Polly Umrigar International Cricketer of the year in 2011-12.

He received Arjuna Award in 2013.

23. ICC Awards:

Kohli received ICC ODI player of the year award in 2012.

He made into ICC ODI XI in 2012 and 2014.

24. International reorganization: 

In 2012, he was named one of the 10 Best Dressed International Men in a list that also included US President Barrack Obama.