Virat Kohli Indian international cricketer

Virat Kohli

Indian international cricketer

Virat Kohli (Hindustani: [ʋɪˈraːʈ ˈkoːɦliː] (listen); born 5 November 1988) is an Indian cricketer and the current captain of the India national team. A right-handed top-order batsman, Kohli is regarded as one of the best contemporary batsmen in the world. He plays for Delhi in domestic cricket and for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League (IPL) as captain of the franchise since 2013.

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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).

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 second highest number of centuries and the highest number of centuries in run-chases in the world. He holds the world record for being the fastest batsman to 8,000, 9,000, 10,000, 11,000 and 12,000 runs in ODI cricket. Among Indian batsmen, Kohli has the best ever Test rating (937 points), ODI rating (911 points) and T20I rating (897 points).

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. In 2020, Kohli was ranked 66th in Forbes list of the top 100 highest paid athletes in the world for the year 2020 with estimated earnings of $26 million.

On 22 April 2021, against Rajasthan Royals, Kohli became the first ever player in the IPL to score 6000 IPL runs.

International centuries

Main article: List of international cricket centuries by Virat Kohli

As of May 2021, Kohli has made 70 centuries in international cricket—27 in Test cricket and 43 in One Day Internationals (ODIs).

Awards

See also: Player of the Match awards (cricket)

Kohli receiving the Padma Shri award from Pranab Mukherjee in March 2017

National honours

2013 - Arjuna Award

2017 - Padma Shri, India's fourth highest civilian award.

2018 - Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna

Sporting honours

Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Men's Cricketer of the Decade): 2011–2020

Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Cricketer of the Year): 2017, 2018

ICC ODI Player of the Year: 2012, 2017, 2018

ICC Test Player of the Year: 2018

ICC ODI Team of the Year: 2012, 2014, 2016 (captain), 2017 (captain), 2018 (captain), 2019 (captain)

ICC Test Team of the Year: 2017 (captain), 2018 (captain), 2019 (captain)

ICC Spirit of Cricket: 2019

ICC Men's ODI Cricketer of the Decade: 2011–2020

ICC Men's Test Team of the Decade: 2011–2020 (captain)

ICC Men's ODI Team of the Decade: 2011–2020

ICC Men's T20I Team of the Decade: 2011–2020

Polly Umrigar Award for International Cricketer of the Year: 2011–12, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18

Wisden Leading Cricketer in the World: 2016, 2017, 2018

CEAT International Cricketer of the Year: 2011–12, 2013–14, 2018–19

Barmy Army - International Player of Year: 2017, 2018

A stand at Arun Jaitley Stadium is named Virat Kohli Stand on 12 September 2019.

Other honours and awards

People's Choice Awards India For Favourite Sportsperson: 2012

CNN-News18 Indian of the Year: 2017

Outside cricket

Personal life

Kohli and Anushka Sharma at Vogue Awards

Kohli started dating Bollywood actress Anushka Sharma in 2013; the couple soon earned the celebrity couple nickname "Virushka". Their relationship attracted substantial media attention, with persistent rumours and speculations in the media, as neither of the two publicly talked about it. The couple married on 11 December 2017 in a private ceremony in Florence, Italy. On 11 January 2021, they became parents to a baby girl, Vamika.

In 2018, Kohli revealed that he completely stopped consuming meat to cut down his uric acid levels which caused him a cervical spine issue and started affecting his finger and inturn his batting. In 2021, he clarified that he is a vegetarian and not a vegan.

Kohli has admitted that he is superstitious. He used to wear black wristbands as a cricket superstition; earlier, he used to wear the same pair of gloves with which he had "been scoring". Apart from a religious black thread, he has also been wearing a kara on his right arm since 2012.

Commercial investments

According to Kohli, football is his second favourite sport. In 2014, Kohli became a co-owner of Indian Super League club FC Goa. He stated that he invested in the club with the "keenness of football" and because he "wanted football to grow in India". He added, "It's a business venture for me for the future. Cricket's not going to last forever and I'm keeping all my options open after retirement."

In September 2015, Kohli became a co-owner of the International Premier Tennis League franchise UAE Royals, and, in December that year, became a co-owner of the JSW-owned Bengaluru Yodhas franchise in Pro Wrestling League.

In November 2014, Kohli and Anjana Reddy's Universal Sportsbiz (USPL) launched a youth fashion brand WROGN. The brand started to produce men's casual wear clothing in 2015 and has tied up with Myntra and Shopper's Stop. In late 2014, Kohli was announced as a shareholder and brand ambassador of the social networking venture 'Sport Convo' based in London.

In 2015, Kohli invested ₹900 million (US$13 million) to start a chain of gyms and fitness centres across the country. Launched under the name Chisel, the chain of gyms is jointly owned by Kohli, Chisel India and CSE (Cornerstone Sport and Entertainment), the agency which manages Kohli's commercial interests. In 2016, Kohli started Stepathlon Kids, a children fitness venture, in partnership with Stepathlon Lifestyle.

In March 2021, Kohli becomes first Asian celebrity to have 100 million followers on Instagram.

Endorsements

Kohli was signed up by sports agent Bunty Sajdeh of Cornerstone Sport and Entertainment after the 2008 Under-19 World Cup. Sajdeh recalls, "I didn’t go after them after they became stars. In fact, I watched Virat at the 2008 ICC Under-19 World Cup in Kuala Lumpur. I was mighty impressed with his attitude and the way he was marshalling his team. He had that spark. And I told Yuvi to set up the meeting." Sajdeh manages Kohli's endorsement deals, along with those of other Indian cricketers Shikhar Dhawan, Rohit Sharma and Murali Vijay. It was reported in 2013 that Kohli's brand endorsements were worth over ₹1 billion (US$14 million). His bat deal with MRF is said to be the costliest deal in Indian cricket history. In 2017, he signed an eight-year endorsement deal with Puma worth about ₹1.1 billion (US$15 million), becoming the first Indian sportsperson to sign a ₹1 billion (US$14 million) deal with a brand.

In 2014, American Appraisal estimated Kohli's brand value at US$56.4 million placing him fourth on the list of India's most valued celebrity brands. The same year, UK-based magazine SportsPro rated Kohli as the second most marketable athlete in the world behind only Lewis Hamilton, placing him above the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Usain Bolt. In an October 2016 report by Duff & Phelps on India's most valued celebrity brands, Kohli's brand value was estimated to be US$92 million, second only to that of Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan.

In 2017, Kohli was ranked 7th in the list released by Forbes as the Most Valuable Brand among athletes, ahead of sportspeople like Lionel Messi, Rory McIlroy and Stephen Curry, with an estimated brand value of $14.5 million. In 2018, Kohli was again listed 83 in the top 100 highest paid athletes in the world. In 2019, Kohli dropped 17 places to No. 100 on Forbes' World's 100 Highest-Paid Athletes" list, making him the only Indian and the only cricketer to feature in that list. His earnings were estimated at about $25 million, earning $21 million from endorsements and the rest from salary and winnings.

In April 2021, Ahead of the IPL, Vivo signed Kohli as their brand ambassador.

Charity

Kohli at a VKF charity event in June 2016

In March 2013, Kohli started a charity foundation called Virat Kohli Foundation (VKF). The organisation aims at helping underprivileged kids and conducts events to raise funds for the charity. According to Kohli, the foundation works with select NGOs to "create awareness, seek support and raise funds for the various causes they endorse and the philanthropic work they engage in." In May 2014, eBay and Save the Children India conducted a charity auction with VKF, with its proceeds benefiting the education and healthcare of underprivileged children.

Kohli has captained the All Heart Football Club, owned by VKF, in charity football matches against All Stars Football Club, owned by Abhishek Bachchan's Playing for Humanity. The matches, known as "Celebrity Clasico", feature cricketers playing for All Heart and Bollywood actors in the All Stars team, and are organized to generate funds for the two charity foundations.

In popular culture

Super V (Super Virat), an Indian animated superhero television series portrays a fictionalized version of Kohli's teen years where he discovers hidden superpowers. Mega Icons (2018-2020), an Indian documentary television series on National Geographic about prominent Indian personalities, dedicated an episode to Kohli's achievements in cricket.

Aap Ki Adalat, an Indian mock trial talk show which airs on India TV, featured an interview with Kohli after the 2011 World Cup.

See also