‘Everybody knew he was different’ - Virat Kohli’s childhood coach Rajkumar Sharma reminisces former's early years

The 50th game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 will feature a clash between the David Warner-led Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Saturday, May 6. With the Bangalore team travelling to Delhi, the game will be a homecoming for ace batter Virat Kohli.

Ahead of the game, Royal Challengers Bangalore took to their social media platforms and posted a video of Kohli’s childhood days. In the video, the 34-year-old’s childhood coach, Rajkumar Sharma, reflected on Kohli’s younger years and revealed how he was in training.

"On May 30, 1998, he came to me with his brother and his father. Within a few days, we could see that he was very different from others—a very active, very hyper, and very naughty guy. He was very determined and dedicated; he wanted to dominate from Day 1. He had tremendous self-belief that I can do anything. Shalaj and Virat were very thick friends from my academy," Rajkumar Sharma said in the video.

Royal Challengers Bangalore@RCBTweets

Stories from Virat Kohli’s childhood in Delhi We met Virat’s first coach Rajkumar Sharma, childhood friend Shalaj & his mother, and they tell us beautiful unheard anecdotes from Virat’s early days as a budding cricketer in Delhi, on @hombalefilms brings to you Bold Diaries.… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…

09:21 AM · May 05, 2023

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He's special and god-gifted talent: Rajkumar Sharma

Several incidents from Kohli’s childhood have been shared in the video. Along with his coach, his childhood friend Shalaj and his mother can also be seen in the video. Reflecting on an incident from his training, Rajkumar Sharma revealed Kohli asking to play with the senior players instead of the players of his age group as they couldn’t get him out.

"Virat never used to get out to the juniors teammates, so he came to and said, 'put me in the elders group'. He once got hit on the chest, but he told his mother, I'll play with elders only. He's special and god-gifted talent," Rajkumar Sharma said.

Furthermore, in the video, Shalaj's mother, also reveals that the ace Indian batter used to ask her what she had cooked for lunch during training and even used to ask her to cook specific meals for him.