Virat Kohli (born 5 November 1988) is an Indian cricketer and the former captain of Indian Cricket Team. He was the captain of Team India between 2014-2021 after which Rohit Sharma became the captain. A right-handed top-order batsman, Kohli is regarded as one of the best batsmen in the world. He plays for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League (IPL), and had been the team's captain between 2013-2022.
In December 2017, Virat Kohli and Indian actress Anushka Sharma tied the knot in a private ceremony in Tuscany, Italy. It was a fairy-tale wedding attended by close family and friends. In January 2021, the couple welcomed their beautiful daughter, Vamika. In February 2024, they welcomed a Baby Boy, Akaay.
Kohli captained India Under-19s to victory at the 2008 Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia. After a few months later, he made his ODI debut 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 the squad that won the 2011 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 the ICC rankings for ODI batsmen for the first time in 2013, Kohli also found success in the Twenty20 format, winning the Man of the Tournament twice at the ICC World Twenty20 (in 2014 and 2016). He is the member of World Cup winning teams in 2011 (ODI WORLD CUP) and 2024 (T20 WORLD CUP).
ICC has officially announced Virat Kohli's shot that he played against Naseem Shah of Pakistan in 2022 T20 World Cup as "SHOT OF THE CENTURY".[]
Kohli was appointed the vice-captain of the ODI team in 2012 and handed over the Test captaincy following Mahendra 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 has the highest number of centuries ever and the highest number of centuries in run-chases in the world. He holds the world record for being the fastest batsman to 10,000 and 11,000 runs in ODI cricket, reaching the milestones in 205 and 222 innings respectively.
Virat Kohli currently has 80 centuries in International Cricket.[]
Kohli has been the recipient of many awards such as the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Cricketer of the Year) in 2017 and 2018; ICC Test Player of the Year 2018; ICC ODI Player of the Year in 2012, 2017 and 2018 and Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World in 2016, 2017 and 2018. He was given the Arjuna Award in 2013, the Padma Shri under the sports category in 2017 and the Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna, the highest sporting honour in India, in 2018. Kohli is ranked as one of the world's most famous athletes by ESPN and one of the most valuable athlete brands by Forbes. In 2018, Time magazine named Kohli one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
