18 August 2008 was the day when the cricketing world witnessed a new talented cricketer in the form of Kohli. He entered the international arena for the first time against Sri Lanka in an ODI match.

Virat didn’t have the best start to his career as he lost his dad during a Ranji Trophy match, but the poster boy of Indian cricket did not quit and played a match saving innings for Delhi which helped them pull off a draw. The reason he has kept 18 as his jersey number is because he lost his dad on that date.

Having overcome the worst part of his career, Virat never looked back and currently, he is arguably the best cricketer in the world. From 2008 to present, Virat has scored over 18,000 international runs in his career, which is rarely possible for an ordinary cricketer. And he’s still 30!

However, there are some interesting facts about Virat Kohli which every cricket fan must know. Here are the 7 most interesting facts about the man himself.

#7 Virat Kohli is the only cricketer to score 500 runs in a bilateral ODI series

Virat Kohli has etched his name on every page of the record books. There is probably not a record which has not been broken by this legend as his hunger for runs is never-ending.

During the series against South Africa in 2018, he became the first cricketer to score over 500 runs in a bilateral ODI series. The 30-year-old achieved this feat by scoring 558 runs in 6 matches and helped India win the series 5-1.

#6 Virat Kohli is the only Asian captain to win tests in England, Australia and South Africa

Virat Kohli took over the captaincy of the Indian test team in the year 2015 from MS Dhoni. He carried forward the legacy of MS Dhoni in the best possible way, and is probably better than the World Cup winning captain.

Kohli has proved himself to be a mastermind of the present century as he is the only Asian captain who has won Test series in England, South Africa and Australia. He lifted the Border-Gavaskar trophy for the first time in Australia in 2019 and had won one test each in South Africa and in England earlier in 2018. The recent Test victory is sure to be etched n the memories of the Indian supporters for decades to come.

#5 Virat Kohli scored the fastest ever ODI century by an Indian against Australia in just 52 balls

Kohli has proved his worth by scoring a mountain of runs against the most successful team in the world. Almost every ball he faced was gloriously caressed to the ropes.

Virat holds the record of scoring the fastest ever century in ODIs for India. He achieved this record during an ODI match between India and Australia at Jaipur in 2013. The right-handed batsman reached the 100-run mark in just 52 balls and helped India pull off a record chase.

#4 Virat became the first ever cricketer to score a century on World Cup debut in 2011

Virat Kohli has so far scored 39 centuries in ODIs, just 11 away from breaking the record of Sachin Tendulkar.

However, Virat holds another unique record when it comes to a century in ODIs that Tendulkar doesn’t. The Indian skipper is the only cricketer to score a century in his debut World Cup match. Kohli scored his first ever World Cup century in the year 2011 against Bangladesh. He played an innings of 100 runs in 83 balls, which helped the Indian team get off to a winning start in the 2011 World Cup.

His 100 was followed by Virender Sehwag’s stunning 175 - the perfect start to a memorable World Cup triumph.

#3 Virat Kohli has kept wickets twice in his career

It is a unique sight for the Indian fans to see MS Dhoni having the ball in hand and rolling his arm over from the bowling crease. When MS Dhoni took off the pads and decided to bowl during the dying stages of day four in the first Test against South Africa in Johannesburg, Virat Kohli kept wickets in place of him.

And during a match between India and Bangladesh at Dhaka, the man donned the gloves when MS Dhoni took a break to answer nature‘s call.

#2 Virat is the only player in IPL to never be auctioned

The consistency of a player can be known through the number of franchises he has played for in the Indian Premier League. A player can be considered extremely consistent if he has just played for 1 franchise since 2008 in IPL. Virat Kohli is one such player who has played all the IPL seasons for the Bangalore-based franchise.

Virat is also a cricketer who has never been auctioned so far in the history of IPL. During the first season of IPL, each team was supposed to pick a player from the under-19 draft. Virat was the part of that under-19 draft in 2008 during which RCB bought him for the first time.

Since then, the franchise hasn’t let him go. In 11 years of the IPL, he has emerged as the 2nd highest run scorer in the IPL after Suresh Raina.

#1 Virat Kohli is the fastest batsman ever to reach the milestone of 10,000 ODI runs

Sachin Tendulkar is a legendary name in the cricketing world and was certainly the best batsman in the ODI format of the game. He held the record of aggregating 10,000 runs in the least number of ODI matches. However, Virat broke this record as he took 54 innings fewer than Sachin.

Sachin Tendulkar had taken 259 innings to score 10,000 runs in ODIs. However, Virat just took 205 innings to score ten thousand runs in ODIs becoming the fastest ever cricketer to reach the milestone. Apart from this, it is also expected that Virat would beat Sachin’s record of 49 centuries in ODIs in the near future.

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