Being captain of the India U-19 World Cup winning side, a lot was expected of young Virat Kohli when he stepped into the inaugural edition of Indian Premier League back in 2008. His performance, however, was overshadowed by the fact that his team Royal Challengers Bangalore left a lot to be desired as they finished bottom of the table.
However, the young Turk already left strong impression on many with his sound batting technique and agile fielding method. India’s veteran spinner Harbhajan Singh in particular recalls a moment when the 19-year-old batsman left him dumbfounded with a huge six against his then Mumbai Indian team-mate and Sri Lankan legend Sanath Jayasuriya.
"I had heard Virat Kohli’s name before the IPL auction from Lalchand Rajput. In an IPL game, I was the captain of the Mumbai Indians, Sachin paaji was sitting out. Virat Kohli hit Jayasuriya for a six by stepping out of his crease,” Harbhajan said on Star Sports’ show ‘IPL memories’.
Being their first encounter, Harbhajan found the teenager to be a fearless cricketer who was unperturbed by the Lankan icon.
"He was not afraid of the fact that a man of Jayasuriya’s stature was bowling to him. That showed me that he is one for the future," said the CSK spinner, who opted out of the IPL 2020 due to personal reasons.
Interestingly, since his first appearance, Kohli has been a RCB stalwart and has been skipper of the IPL franchise since 2011. Sadly, IPL success has alluded the cricketer as the team enters 13th season without the coveted title.
RCB will kick-start its IPL 2020 journey against SunRisers Hyderabad on September 21 at the Dubai International Stadium.
