Virat Kohli posts a special message on completing 15 years in international cricket

Virat Kohli made his India debut in 2008 in an ODI against Sri Lanka in Dambulla.

15 years ago, on this day, Virat Kohli made his India debut against Sri Lanka in Dambulla in an ODI, and since then he has gone on to become a legend of the game, particularly in ODI cricket.

His debut for India came in the aftermath of him leading the Under-19 India side to U-19 World Cup glory in 2008 in Malaysia, and there were many expectations from the young Delhi batter. But he was dismissed for 12 runs in his first game.

However, he showed his class shortly after as he slammed an amazing 183 runs in a tense chase against Pakistan in an Asia Cup game and then went on to become a key player for India in all three formats.

He made his Test debut in 2011 against West Indies and his T20I debut against Zimbabwe in 2010.

The Delhi batter was earmarked for captaincy and was handed the Test baton in 2014 on a tour of Australia when MS Dhoni abruptly called time on his career. He took over as captain in all formats in 2017.

Virat Kohli boasts an amazing record for India, as in 111 Tests, he has 8676 runs with 29 centuries and a best of 254* at an average of 49.29. In 275 ODIs, Virat Kohli has 12898 runs at an average of 57.32, with 46 centuries and a best of 183.

He has excelled in T20Is as well, scoring 4008 runs in 115 games at an average of 52.73 and a best score of 122*.

As he completed his 15 years in international cricket, Virat Kohli took to his X account (formerly Twitter) and posted a message.

Some tidbits about Virat Kohli in international cricket

Virat Kohli remains the only Indian batter to score a hundred in his World Cup debut, a feat he achieved while scoring a ton against Bangladesh in the 2011 World Cup opener in Dhaka. He is also the only player in cricket history to win Player of the Tournament twice in a row in the T20 World Cup competition.

He was named the Player of the Tournament in the T20 World Cups of 2014 and 2016.

In 2018, between February and October, Kohli scored nearly 1000 runs in a span of ten ODI innings. Kohli amassed 995 runs between his 197th and 206th ODI innings at an average of 142.14, with five hundreds and three fifties.

Kohli has played at 83 venues in his international career so far and has scored hundreds in 46 of them. His most tons (53) came at Adelaide Oval, and he is behind only Sachin Tendulkar, who scored international tons in 53 venues.

Kohli is second on the list of most centuries in international cricket with 76 to his name, just behind Sachin Tendulkar’s record of 100. However, he needs only four more ODI tons to beat Tendulkar’s record of 49 centuries in a 50-over format.

The former India captain has scored a century in all nine countries where he has played ODI cricket and in seven of the eight countries in Test cricket, with Bangladesh the only exception.

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