On this day: Virat Kohli made his international debut in 2008
A 19-year-old Virat Kohli donned the India senior jersey for the first time on this day in 2008, making his debut against Sri Lanka in Dambulla. After leading the India U-19 side to glory in the World Cup in the same year, Kohli had become a household name, and proceeded to make appearances in the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League as well, representing Royal Challengers Bangalore.
His impressive individual performances eventually earned him his first India call-up in August 2008. Kohli opened the batting alongside Gautam Gambhir in his debut ODI, which marked the beginning of a glorious chapter in Indian cricket.
He failed to impress in his first series, however, registering one score of over-fifty in five matches. In his first ODI, he scored 12 off 22 deliveries, facing a tough test against the likes of Chaminda Vaas and Nuwan Kulasekara - the latter eventually dismissed him.
He registered scores of 37, 25, 54 and 31 in the next four matches - all coming as an opener.
Kohli, however, announced himself at the international stage in 2009 when he came at number four and slammed a brilliant century against the Sri Lankan side in Kolkata. In the chase of 316, India had lost Virender Sehwag and Sachin Tendulkar very early and Kohli joined Gambhir with the side's score at 23/2.
The duo, then, forged a 224-run partnership, steering the game away from Sri Lanka and eventually aiding India to a seven-wicket victory, securing a series victory. The century marked Kohli's arrival in the international setup and the youngster never looked back since.
In 2011, Virat Kohli was the part of the Indian team which lifted the World Cup. In the final, Virat -- again, against Sri Lanka -- joined Gambhir at a stage where India were on the backfoot after losing Tendulkar and Sehwag early. While the batsman didn't score a century this time, he helped stabilise the Indian innings alongside Gambhir, adding 83 runs for the third wicket.
Virat eventually rose the ranks with his incredible consistency across all three formats, and was named the successor to MS Dhoni as Indian captain in the longest format of the game in 2014. He eventually took over the mantle from Dhoni in the limited-overs formats in 2017.
The batsman boasts an average of over-50 across all the three formats of the game, having made 94 appearances in Tests, 254 in ODIs and 89 in T20Is. He has scored 70 international centuries so far and remains only one shy of equalling Australian great Ricky Ponting. With 12,169 runs in ODIs, Kohli is also the highest run-getter among current cricketers and sixth-highest overall.
Over the past few months, however, Kohli has been going through a rough patch with the bat. While he has scored 50+ scores with consistency in the limited-overs formats, his performances in Tests have been underwhelming, to say the least. In 2020, he played six Tests, averaging only 19.33 for 116 runs. In the current year, he has scored 291 runs in seven Tests so far, with an average of 26.45.
Virat is yet to lift an ICC trophy as captain as well. His sides have performed with consistency throughout the ICC tournaments but failed in the knock-out games. Under Kohli, India lost in the final of the 2017 Champions Trophy, semifinal of the 2019 World Cup and the final of the 2021 World Test Championship.
