Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli; (born 5 November 1988) is an Indiancricketerwho currentlycaptainstheIndia national team. A right-handed top-orderbatsman, Kohli is regarded as one of the best batsmen in the world.[3]He plays forRoyal Challengers Bangalorein theIndian Premier League(IPL), and has been the team's captain since 2013. Since October 2017, he has been the top-ranked ODI batsman in the world and is currently the leading batsman in the Test rankings.[4]Among Indian batsmen, Kohli has the best everTest rating(937 points),ODI rating(911 points) andT20I rating(897 points). Kohli is ranked as one of the world's most famous athletes byESPN[5]and one of the most valuable athlete brands byForbes.[6].

Kohli captainedIndia Under-19sto victory at the2008 Under-19 World Cupin Malaysia, and a few months later, made hisODIdebut for India against Sri Lanka at the age of 19. Initially having played as a reserve batsman in the Indian team, he soon established himself as a regular in the ODI middle-order and was part of thesquadthat won the2011 World Cup. He made his Test debut in 2011 and shrugged off the tag of "ODI specialist" by 2013 with Test hundreds in Australia and South Africa.Having reached the number one spot in theICC rankingsfor ODI batsmen for the first time in 2013,Kohli also found success in theTwenty20format, winning the Man of the Tournament twice at theICC World Twenty20(in2014and2016).

Kohli was appointed the vice-captain of the ODI team in 2012 and handed over the Test captaincy followingMahendra Singh Dhoni's Test retirement in 2014. In early 2017, he became the limited-overs captain as well after Dhoni stepped down from the position. In ODIs, Kohli holds the world record for the fastest batsman to 10,000 runs in 205 innings.Kohli has the second highest number of centuries and the highest number of centuries in run-chases in the world.

Kohli has been the recipient of many awards such as theSir Garfield Sobers Trophy(ICC Cricketer of the Year) in 2017 and 2018;ICC Test Player of the Year2018;ICC ODI Player of the Yearin 2012, 2017 and 2018 andWisden Leading Cricketer in the Worldin 2016, 2017 and 2018.He was given theArjuna Awardin 2013, thePadma Shriunder the sports category in 2017and theRajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, the highest sporting honour in India, in 2018.In 2018,Timemagazine named Kohli one of the100 most influential people in the world.