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Happy Birthday Virat Kohli: Tracing the growth of a superstar

Virat Kohli's growth in international cricket has been phenomenal. On his 27th birthday, here is a recap of his career so far.

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Virat Kohli has had a prolific journey in international cricket © Getty Images
Virat Kohli has had a prolific journey in international cricket © Getty Images

Virat Kohli, born November 5, 1988, celebrates his 27th birthday on Wednesday. The hallmark of any good cricketer is how they develop with time. With Kohli, the growth from his international debut to the present is phenomenal. Those who have followed his career from his early days would have seen just how improved Kohli is as a cricketer. That Kohli had potential was evident from his days as captain of India’s ICC under-19 World Cup-winning team of 2007-08. Kohli gave a glimpse into the future of Indian cricket with his firebrand leadership as a young Indian side full of future international cricketers pulled off an incredible victory. LIVE CRICKET SCORECARD: India vs South Africa 2015, 1st Test at Mohali

The start

Kohli got a slightly surprising call-up to the ODI team in 2008, and was immediately put out of his comfort zone and made to open. He responded with scores of 12, 37, 25, 54, and 31; this was an especially impressive return given that this was Kohli’s debut series, and that it was overall quite a low-scoring tournament. Kohli was exciting enough that India kept him around their ODI set-up, though he mostly got to play only if one of the senior players were injured or otherwise indisposed.

Kohli was a part of India’s team for ICC Champions Trophy 2009, where India put in quite a shoddy performance. They won and lost one match respectively, while a third produced didn’t produce a result. However, it was in that one victory — over West Indies — that Kohli finally put in the kind of performance that made people sit up and take notice. The West Indies were bowled out for 129 on a tricky Johannesburg pitch, but managed to reduce India to 12 for 2 in response. Kohli, batting at No. 4, then dominated in a 92-run alliance with Dinesh Karthik. Kohli remained unbeaten on 79 off 104 balls with nine fours and two sixes. In many ways, this was the innings that helped Kohli take his game to a new level.

The next few innings were not particularly productive for Kohli. He got a couple of starts but failed to build on them, till the fourth ODI against Sri Lanka at Eden Gardens in 2009. India were chasing a challenging 316. Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag were both dismissed with only 23 on the board. Kohli, again batting at No. 4, combined with Gautam Gambhir to put on an excellent 224. Kohli scored his maiden ODI century, making 107 off 114 balls with 11 fours and a six. The stream that was earlier trickling now burst into a river; Kohli’s next four innings read 9, 91, 71 not out, and 102 not out. By now Kohli was establishing a reputation for himself. After scoring 159 runs in five matches in 2008 (his debut series) he made 325 runs in 10 games at 54.16 in 2009, and followed it up with 995 runs in 25 matches at 47.38 in 2010. He now had 1,479 runs in 40 matches at 46.21. READ: Why women love Virat Kohli

Kohli kicked off 2011 with a good tour of South Africa, which saw him score 193 runs in five ODIs at 48.25 in a closely-fought series that India narrowly lost. His performances by this point were good enough that Kohli became a permanent member of India’s ODI line-up. He scored an unbeaten 100 on his World Cup debut, but did little of note after that. His partnership with Gambhir in the final against Sri Lanka helped stabilise India, but the 90s from Gambhir and MS Dhoni out shadowed his innings.

Initiation to Test cricket

Kohli had been a part of India’s ODI side for four years by now, but was yet to play a Test. That changed on India’s tour to West Indies after ICC Cricket World Cup 2011. Kohli failed in his debut series, collecting a mere 76 runs in three Tests. He was picked for the Test series against England that followed — one that India were infamously whitewashed in — but did not get a single game in the series. He did reasonably well in the ODI series that followed, getting another century as well as a half-century, though India ended the tour without a win. Kohli was instrumental in India thrashing England on their return ODI tour of India, scoring 270 runs in five matches at an average of 90.

Kohli’s next Test was again against West Indies, and he got twin fifties in the second Test at Mumbai. This was another important landmark for Kohli, as it gave him the confidence for what followed. India toured Australia immediately after that. Kohli got scores of 11, 0, 23, and 9 in the first two Tests at Melbourne and Sydney, as India lost both of them. There were calls for his head as sections of the media started dubbing him an ODI specialist. His brash, aggressive attitude did not sit well with people either; he famously showed “the finger” to crowds who were booing him. READ: Virat Kohli — cricketing idol of India’s young generation

And then came the turning point. Dhoni kept faith in Kohli, and gave him another chance in the third Test at Perth. Kohli responded by top-scoring in both innings, first with a high-class 44 and then with an even better 75 in the second innings. India were bowled out for less than 200 in both innings though, and lost the match by an innings and 37 runs. The next Test at Adelaide saw Kohli score his maiden Test hundred. In what was another lone hand, Kohli scored 116 off 213 deliveries (the next highest score of the innings was 35) but India lost that match as well.

But from the ashes of India’s humiliation, Kohli rose with his head held high. The confidence he got from playing the series transformed him for the better; he now took his game up by another notch. India played Australia and Sri Lanka in a triangular ODI series after that.

Kicking it up a notch

In a do-or-die game against Sri Lanka at Hobart, Kohli played one of the greatest ever ODI innings. India needed to chase down whatever Sri Lanka scored in 40 overs in order to win. Unfortunately for India, their sub continental neighbours piled on 320. Sehwag, Sachin Tendulkar, and Gambhir played vital innings, and got India off to a flying start; but someone needed to play a game-changing knock. And that someone was Kohli. In a most phenomenal display of skill and aggression, Kohli tore apart the fabled Lasith Malinga — he butchered him for 96 runs in 7.4 overs for an economy rate of 12.52 — and methodically thrashed every other bowler he faced en route to an unbeaten 133 off 86 balls with 16 fours and two sixes. India won the game in 36.4 overs but were unable to reach the final.

The Asia Cup 2012 and a tour to Sri Lanka followed, and Kohli just kept going. He was in the middle of an unreal run in ODIs; he had a golden stretch that read 133 not out, 108, 66, 183, 106, 1, 38, and 128 not out. That form carried forward to Test cricket as well. Kohli scored his second Test ton against New Zealand in Bangalore, and a few Tests later got back-to-back centuries against England and Australia.

By the year 2013, Kohli was well and truly a major player. With India’s stalwarts all having lost form or retired, Kohli led the new generation of Indian batsmen — including the likes of Shikhar Dhawan, Ajinkya Rahane, and a newly rejuvenated Rohit Sharma, all of whom are older than him — in re-establishing India as a batting powerhouse. He played a part in India winning ICC Champions Trophy 2013, playing a brief but vital innings in the final.

The next landmark moment in Kohli’s career came when Australia toured India in 2013. It was a series that gave Rohit a second wind as well, but Kohli was on a different plane. He started the series with 61 in a losing cause, but followed it up by helping India to one of the most belligerent chases in modern memory. Faced with a mammoth 360-run target (incidentally, 359 was the same score Australia got against India in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2003 final), Kohli came out and played a Hobart-like blitz of an unbeaten 100 off 52 balls with eight fours and seven sixes as India won by wickets with a ridiculous 6.3 overs to spare. Even more shockingly, that was not the only manic century Kohli got; four games later Kohli hammered an unbeaten 115 off 66 balls with 18 fours and a six to help India chase down 350 in the final over. READ: What to expect from the Virat Kohli era of Indian cricket!

Kohli continued his outstanding run with a productive Test series in South Africa, where he scored 119 and 96 in the series opener at Johannesburg in a match that saw remarkable twists and turns as it ended in a close draw. The tour to New Zealand that followed saw Kohli score a match-saving fourth-innings 105 not out in the second Test at Wellington after Brendon McCullum’s record triple century rescued the hosts.

Great success and greater failure

In the midst of all his exploits in ODIs and Tests, Kohli quietly climbed the charts in T20Is as well. Almost unnoticed, he became the leading run-scorer for India in T20Is. He was absolutely outstanding in ICC World T20 2014, scoring 319 runs in six matches at an unbelievable 106.33 with four fifties. His innings in the semi-final and final came in immense pressure, but while the innings he played in the semi-final guided India home, a mixture of poor batting at the other end and outstanding bowling from Sri Lanka meant that India failed in the final. Kohli ended as Man of the Tournament as well. READ: Virat Kohli: Fastest to score 1,000 runs in T20 Internationals

Then came India’s tour to England in 2014. It would prove to be Kohli’s sternest test to date, and one that he failed to pass mustard in. In five Tests in that series he could only score 134 runs at a shocking average of 13.40; a vast departure from his usual standards. He struggled for runs, and it seemed like his excellent run in international cricket had finally hit a rough patch. He scored a couple of ODI centuries against West Indies and Sri Lanka after that, but the lack of Test runs was ahead of the all-important tour to Australia was hard to ignore. READ: An open letter to Virat Kohli

Then dropped another bombshell; in Dhoni’s absence it was Kohli leading the Test side for the first time. It was scheduled to be held at The Gabba, but the tragic demise of Phillip Hughes meant that what was originally to be the second Test at Adelaide — the site of Kohli’s maiden Test ton — now became the venue for the first match.

Captaincy and beyond

A lesser man than Kohli might have been nervous at having to lead his country for the first time while in the middle of a run in which he failed to reach 40 in his last 10 innings; but Kohli is made of sterner stuff. He scored 115 and 141 in his first Test as captain, nearly taking India to an incredible victory. His dismissal proved to be the turning point as India lost in the final session on Day Five. He followed it up with 19 and 1 in another loss at The Gabba, but then came up with 169 and 54 at MCG in a draw, and signed off with 147 and 46 (again as captain) in the fourth Test, which ended in another draw. He followed his nightmarish 134-run England tour with a haul of 692 runs at 86.50 with four centuries and a fifty in Australia. READ: Virat Kohli’s first win as Test captain vindicates ‘aggressive’ approach

His excellent end to 2014 did not translate to a prolific 2015 though; after getting 107 against Pakistan in India’s first match of ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 (the second time he started off a World Cup with a century) he failed to score a half-century till the third ODI against South Africa in October. He managed to get another century, but with just 623 runs at 36.64, 2015 has been by far his worst year in ODI cricket since 2008.

Given Kohli’s track record though, he is more than likely to make a sterling comeback across formats in 2016. Kohli’s status in Indian cricket is likely to continue growing with every passing year. He will soon be captain across formats, and his leadership could usher in a new era of Indian cricket. The road so far has been a joy. One can only imagine what lies ahead.

(Shiamak Unwalla, a reporter with CricketCountry, is a self-confessed Sci-Fi geek who loves cricket more than cricketers. His Twitter handle is @ShiamakUnwalla)

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