“Forever Grateful,” Virat Kohli shares emotional message as he celebrates 15th anniversary of international cricket
Virat celebrates 15 years as an Indian cricketer. He debuted in an ODI against Sri Lanka as a 19 year old.
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Virat hits Haris Rauf down the ground (image from ICC)
18th August, 2023 marks the 15th anniversary of Virat Kohli’s first international match for India. He debuted in an ODI against Sri Lanka as a 19 year old. Just a few months ago, Virat had led India’s U-19 team in the U-19 World Cup held in Malaysia and they were crowned champions. He opened the game and only scored 12 runs, but his best was yet to come.
In the next 15 years Kohli has played 501 games across ODIs, T20Is and Tests for the nation. He is regarded as one of the greatest batsmen of all time, often compared with cricketing greats like Sachin Tendulkar and Ricky Ponting. A batsman with great technique and the ability to switch formats with ease. Let it be his chasing ability in Limited overs in cricket or how he is able to score centuries in the toughest conditions, he is definitely one of the best.
Some of his most iconic knocks include the 183 against Pakistan, 100 off 52 balls against Australia which was a record fastest century by an Indian batsman, 107 against Pakistan in the 2015 CWC, 82 against Australia in the 2016 T20I World Cup Semi Final the most recent being his 82 vs Pakistan in the 2022 T20I World Cup. The 82 vs Pakistan has been immortalized by Virat’s outrageous six down the ground off Haris Rauf, which has been called “arguably the greatest single T20 shot of all time” by the ICC.
To celebrate his 15th year as an International cricketer, Virat posted a photo of him from that knock against Pakistan on his Instagram and captioned it “Forever Grateful”.
Virat Kohli’s tenure as Test Captain
In 2014 after MSD retired from Test cricket, Virat Kohli completely transformed the Test team into one of the best in the World. When Virat took over as captain, India were ranked 7th in the ICC Test Rankings. Virat rebuilt India’s pace attack, changed their approach in various aspects such as fitness, tactics, etc and that kept India at the top of the Test Rankings for 43 months, from 2016 to 2020.
Virat is known for his aggressive nature on the field that was visible during his 7 years as the Test captain. The 2021 Lord’s Test often being the best example. With India needing 2 sessions to get 10 wickets, he told his team “For 60 overs, they should feel like hell” and what proceeded is one of India’s greatest Test victories.
Virat had a slump in form at the start of 2021 where he went 3 years without scoring a century. But since the 2022 Asia Cup Virat has been back to his normal self. He is scoring centuries and winning matches on a regular basis. He will hope to continue this form as the Asia Cup and World Cup come closer.
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