Former India captain Virat Kohli didn’t become a run machine in a single day. Right from the start, Kohli showed gumption. His ability to apply himself in the middle and his willingness to open in his early days allowed the Indian team management to have room to play the likes of Yuvraj Singh and MS Dhoni in the middle.
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For instance, on his ODI debut against Sri Lanka, Kohli came out to open and was out for 12 runs off 22 balls. Needless to say, his opening stint was doomed right from the start. He was tried as an opener for a few more times before being dropped from the side. Kohli never played for India as an opener in the next ten years or so.
But being an opener wasn’t a new thing for Kohli. He had tried that position while playing for India A as recalled by former India selector and player Dilip Vengsarkar.
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“What I admired about him is that when he was asked to open the innings, he said ‘Okay, I will open the innings’. We were chasing around 270 runs against New Zealand which had a good attack,” he recalled in a candid chat with WV Raman on Sportstar.
“They were all under 23 and we wanted them. Virat played so brilliantly. After scoring a hundred, he made sure that India won the match. He was 123 not out in that innings. I was seeing him from the U-16 days. Then he played U-19 and then India senior.”
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Virat Kohli made his India debut in 2008, just a few months after leading India Under-19 to World Cup trophy. With India, then led by MS Dhoni, opting to bat first, Kohli had opened the innings with fellow Delhi cricketer Gautam Gambhir. However, Kohli was caught leg before by Nuwan Kulasekara on the fifth ball of the eighth over. This had come after Kohli had stitched a 23-run stand with Suresh Raina for the second wicket.
Kohli would went onto become the second highest run getter for India after Sachin Tendulkar with more than 23,000 runs in international cricket.
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