(Cricket news): Cricket has been one of the major attractions in India since the 80’s, ever since Kapil Dev lifted the trophy in 1983 the sport has spread like wildfire across the nation. It has also brought billions in revenue and the development of BCCI over the past decade has shown how the sport has transformed over time. Cricketers are worshipped as gods and the matches bring out ferocious amounts of intensity in the fans. There are only a handful of cricketers in history who have achieved what Virat Kohli has done so far, all of them are retired players and in the current era only few have come near him. He made his international debut for India on August 18 2008 in an ODI against Sri Lanka. He was 19 years old and went on to score 12 runs in the match. Over the past 13 years in the 50 over format the Indian skipper has scored a massive 12,169 runs at an average of 59.07. He has scored 43 centuries and 62 half centuries, only Sachin Tendulkar has more centuries than Kohli in the shorter format of the game with 49. Kohli has scored over 70 international centuries making him the top contender to break Sachin’s record of 100 centuries. He is the first Indian batsman to score a century against Pakistan in a World Cup match in the 2015 World Cup.
In the test matches, Kohli has scored 7,609 runs with an average of 51.41 in 94 matches, he has scored 27 hundreds and 25 half centuries. He made his Test debut in the 2011 tour of West Indies. He has scored seven double hundreds, the most by an Indian. What is staggering is that Kohli has achieved so many records in such a short lifespan and if he continues to perform at the same rate, he can break Sachin’s record for sure. He is known for his strict regime and is one of the fittest cricketers in the world, a very aggressive player on the field and has had his share of controversies on the field.
Virat Kohli’s aggressiveness has been attributed to his consistency level and dedication to the sport over the past decade. He has been exceptional with the bat even in the shortest format of the game, in the T20s he has scored 3159 runs at an average of 52.65 with 28 half centuries. He has a 50 plus average in three formats of the game. He became first ever player in the IPL to score 6000 runs and in the 2016 season scored a record breaking 973 runs with four centuries and has been hailed as one of the best IPL performances.
Kohli took over as the India captain in all three formats after MS Dhoni stepped down in 2017. He has carried the team with pride and has led the side to historic victories with his most recent one coming against England at the Lords test. He also led the Indian junior side to a World Cup triumph in 2008. He is the most successful Indian captain in Test matches with 37 victories and in the ODI’s he has led the side successfully on 65 occasions. He is also the fourth most successful captain and has scored the most number of ODI centuries by an Indian captain with 21 centuries. He has led the T20 side to 27 victories and is second only to Dhoni in terms of victories and has been a part of the 2011, 2015 and captained the 2019 World Cup side, scoring a century on his World Cup debut against Bangladesh.
