{"id":13592,"date":"2026-08-18T07:23:29","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T07:23:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/?p=13592"},"modified":"2026-08-18T07:23:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T07:23:29","slug":"18-years-of-ruthless-virat-kohli-the-man-who-refused-to-stay-ordinary-cricket-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/?p=13592","title":{"rendered":"18 years of ruthless Virat Kohli: The man who refused to stay ordinary | Cricket News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"e9jwa\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"GfdvZ\">\n<section class=\"_bIDB  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  E9tg9 \" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"_bIDB\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"ypVvZ\">\n<div class=\"WGttI\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-133314724,imgsize-341824,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/virat-kohli.jpg\" alt=\"18 years of ruthless Virat Kohli: The man who refused to stay ordinary\" title=\"18 years of Virat Kohli (AI Genarated Image)\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Ta7d_ img_cptn\"><span title=\"18 years of Virat Kohli (AI Genarated Image)\">18 years of Virat Kohli (AI Genarated Image)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>On August 18, 2008, a 19-year-old <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/cricket\/player-profile\/virat-kohli\/3993\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Virat Kohli<\/a> walked out at Dambulla and scored 12 on his India debut. Eighteen years later, the boy who was once a surprise selection has become one of the defining figures of modern cricket: a batter, captain, standard-setter, survivor and, perhaps most importantly, a player who changed what Indian cricket expected from itself.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"4\"\/>Virat Kohli is not just an athlete; he has become a brand of cricket, inspiring a generation through his mindset, skills and, most importantly, his hunger for the game. That hunger made him more intense, more furious and, at his best, almost unbeatable. Across his career, Kohli has achieved almost everything: the U19 World Cup, ODI World Cup, T20 World Cup, Champions Trophy and Asia Cup.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"6\"\/>There was nothing particularly prophetic about Virat Kohli&#8217;s first international innings.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"10\"\/><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"12\"\/>On that day at the Rangiri Dambulla International Stadium in Sri Lanka, the teenager walked out to open India&#8217;s innings. He faced 22 balls, made 12 and was trapped lbw by Nuwan Kulasekara.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"14\"\/>India lost by eight wickets. There was no century. No match-winning chase. No hint, at least in the scorecard, that something extraordinary had begun.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"16\"\/><\/p>\n<div data-pos=\"0\" class=\"id-r-component iIpbx undefined  &#10;        \">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Virat Kohli in Dambulla\" msid=\"133314450\" width=\"\" title=\"\" placeholdersrc=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/83033472.cms\" imgsize=\"\" resizemode=\"4\" offsetvertical=\"0\" placeholdermsid=\"47529300\" type=\"thumb\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/msid-133314450\/virat-kohli-in-dambulla.jpg\" data-api-prerender=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"18\"\/>Eighteen years later, the numbers have become difficult to ignore.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"20\"\/>As of August 2026, Kohli has played 314 ODIs and scored 14,941 runs at 58.59, with 54 hundreds and 79 fifties. He has 9,230 Test runs from 123 matches, including 30 centuries, and finished his T20I career with 4,188 runs from 125 matches. Across international cricket, that is 28,359 runs and 85 centuries.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"24\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h3><b>The boy who learned early that cricket could not wait<\/b><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"26\"\/>Long before Dambulla, there was a December morning in 2006 that revealed something about Kohli that statistics never could. He was 18, playing for Delhi against Karnataka in a Ranji Trophy match at the Feroz Shah Kotla. He was unbeaten on 40 overnight when his father, Prem Kohli, died suddenly. <!-- -->Kohli returned to the ground the next morning. He scored 90. It was not just an innings. It was an early declaration of character.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"30\"\/>Two years later, he was leading India at the Under-19 World Cup in Malaysia. India won the tournament. Kohli scored 235 runs in six innings at an average of 47.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"32\"\/>He had a modest start to his international career during the Sri Lanka tour. In the fourth ODI of that 2008 series, Kohli made 54, his first international half-century. <!-- -->A year later came his first hundred: 107 against Sri Lanka in Kolkata.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"36\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h3><b>The World Cup, Tendulkar and the making of a star<\/b><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"38\"\/>By 2011, Kohli was no longer a prospect. He was part of India&#8217;s World Cup-winning side. He scored a century against Bangladesh in India&#8217;s opening game and later walked into the Wankhede dressing room during the final when India were 31 for 2.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"40\"\/>He made 35. Not the sort of number that usually survives in a career built on hundreds. His 35 helped India recover alongside Gautam Gambhir, before MS Dhoni&#8217;s 91 finished the job against Sri Lanka.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"43\"\/>India won the World Cup. Kohli was just 22.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"45\"\/><\/p>\n<div data-pos=\"0\" class=\"id-r-component iIpbx undefined  &#10;        \">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Virat Kohli won ODI World Cup alongside Sachin Tendulkar\" msid=\"133314495\" width=\"\" title=\"\" placeholdersrc=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/83033472.cms\" imgsize=\"\" resizemode=\"4\" offsetvertical=\"0\" placeholdermsid=\"47529300\" type=\"thumb\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/msid-133314495\/virat-kohli-won-odi-world-cup-alongside-sachin-tendulkar.jpg\" data-api-prerender=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"47\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h3><b>The chase master tag<\/b><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"49\"\/>The 2012 Asia Cup against Pakistan produced his famous 183, still his highest ODI score. The same year brought a defining chase in Hobart against Sri Lanka, where India needed 321 in 40 overs to stay alive in the tournament. Kohli smashed 133 not out from 86 balls.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"51\"\/><span class=\"strong\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">Captain Kohli: India stopped apologising<\/span><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"53\"\/>MS Dhoni stepped down as captain in Test cricket in 2014 and in limited-overs formats in 2017. <!-- -->Kohli was handed the captaincy, first in Tests in 2015 and then across formats by 2017. From then on, India began to excel in the longest format. The early signs were visible in Australia in 2014-15. Kohli scored hundreds in both innings of the Adelaide Test, making 115 and 141.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"57\"\/>Kohli soon took India from No. 7 to the No. 1 Test team in the world.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"59\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h3><b>2016: Kohli became the real beast<\/b><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"61\"\/>If 2014-15 established Kohli as a great, 2016 turned him into a sporting phenomenon. <!-- -->He was devastating in every format. Then came the IPL. 973 runs in 16 matches. Four centuries. An average of 81.08. It was a season that seemed to break the accepted limits of T20 batting. Kohli was no longer simply a successful cricketer.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"65\"\/>The fitness. The diet. The running between wickets. The hunger after reaching fifty. Young Indian cricketers began copying Kohli&#8217;s routines because they understood the larger message: talent could get you into the team, but obsession could keep you there.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"68\"\/><\/p>\n<div data-pos=\"0\" class=\"id-r-component iIpbx undefined  &#10;        \">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Virat in IPL 2016\" msid=\"133314548\" width=\"\" title=\"\" placeholdersrc=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/83033472.cms\" imgsize=\"\" resizemode=\"4\" offsetvertical=\"0\" placeholdermsid=\"47529300\" type=\"thumb\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/msid-133314548\/virat-in-ipl-2016.jpg\" data-api-prerender=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"70\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h3><b>2018: The captain who conquered overseas cricket<\/b><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"72\"\/>The 2018 season cemented the Test version of Kohli. He scored 1,322 Test runs and was named ICC Men&#8217;s Cricketer of the Year.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"74\"\/>India had always produced great batters. Kohli wanted India to produce great fast bowlers. Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma and Umesh Yadav became the spearhead of an attack that could win Test matches away from home. The defining reward came in Australia in 2018-19, when India won their first Test series on Australian soil.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"77\"\/>Kohli finished with 68 Tests as captain, 40 wins and 17 defeats, the most Test victories by an Indian captain and the fourth-most in the history of Test cricket.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"79\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h3><b>And then came the fall<\/b><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"81\"\/>From November 2019 to March 2023, Kohli went through 23 Tests and 41 innings without a Test century, averaging only 25.70 during that stretch. His 70th international century came in November 2019.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"83\"\/>The 71st did not arrive until September 2022, 1,020 days later. <!-- -->In 2021, Kohli stepped down from captaincy, and then he made his comeback.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"87\"\/><span class=\"strong\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">The comeback began with 122*<\/span><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"89\"\/>At the 2022 Asia Cup, Kohli finally looked free again. Against Afghanistan, he made 122 not out from 61 balls, his first T20I century and his 71st international hundred. Then came Pakistan at the 2022 T20 World Cup. India needed 160. Kohli made 82 not out from 53 balls.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"91\"\/>It was not simply another great innings. It was the kind of performance that reminded everyone why his name had become synonymous with pressure.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"94\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h3><b>2023: The year he chased history<\/b><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"96\"\/>At the ODI World Cup in India, Kohli produced one of the greatest individual tournament campaigns in the history of the competition.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"98\"\/>765 runs in 11 innings. Average: 95.63. He became the first player to score 50 ODI hundreds, surpassing Sachin Tendulkar&#8217;s record of 49.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"101\"\/>He then won back-to-back ICC trophies, the 2024 T20 World Cup and the 2025 Champions Trophy. The following year he retired from Test cricket and T20Is, leaving behind a long-lasting legacy.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"104\"\/><\/p>\n<div data-pos=\"0\" class=\"id-r-component iIpbx undefined  &#10;        \">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Mumbai: India's Virat Kohli celebrates his 50th century, breaking Sachin Tendulk...\" msid=\"133314575\" width=\"\" title=\"Mumbai: India's Virat Kohli celebrates his 50th century, breaking Sachin Tendulkar's most ODI hundreds record, during the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 semi-final match between India and New Zealand, at the Wankhede Stadium, in Mumbai. (PTI Photo\/Kunal Patil)\" placeholdersrc=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/83033472.cms\" imgsize=\"\" resizemode=\"4\" offsetvertical=\"0\" placeholdermsid=\"47529300\" type=\"thumb\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/msid-133314575\/mumbai-indias-virat-kohli-celebrates-his-50th-century-breaking-sachin-tendulk.jpg\" data-api-prerender=\"true\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Mumbai: India&#8217;s Virat Kohli celebrates his 50th century, breaking Sachin Tendulkar&#8217;s most ODI hundreds record, during the ICC Men&#8217;s Cricket World Cup 2023 semi-final match between India and New Zealand, at the Wankhede Stadium, in Mumbai. (PTI Photo\/Kunal Patil)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"106\"\/><\/p>\n<p><h3><b>And then, finally, Bengaluru gave him his closure<\/b><\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"108\"\/>There was one unfinished story left. Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Kohli had been there since the first IPL season in 2008. He had watched the franchise lose finals in 2009, 2011 and 2016. He had carried the weight of an entire fanbase through years of disappointment. Then, in 2025, RCB finally won the IPL. And in 2026, they did it again.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"110\"\/>Kohli completed his chapter of cricket with every major trophy and countless individual awards to his name. As of August 2026, Kohli is no longer a Test cricketer. He is no longer a T20I cricketer. He is now an ODI specialist for India &#8211; still scoring, still competing.<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/cricket\/news\/18-years-of-ruthless-virat-kohli-the-man-who-refused-to-stay-ordinary\/articleshow\/133314205.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>18 years of Virat Kohli (AI Genarated Image) On August 18, 2008, a 19-year-old Virat Kohli walked out at Dambulla and scored 12 on his India debut. Eighteen years later, the boy who was once a surprise selection has become one of the defining figures of modern cricket: a batter, captain, standard-setter, survivor and, perhaps [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-31"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787037810_virat-kohli.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787037810_virat-kohli.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787037810_virat-kohli.jpg","large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787037810_virat-kohli.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787037810_virat-kohli.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787037810_virat-kohli.jpg","blogsy-small":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787037810_virat-kohli.jpg","blogsy-small-tall":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787037810_virat-kohli.jpg","blogsy-small-square":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787037810_virat-kohli.jpg","blogsy-small-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787037810_virat-kohli.jpg","blogsy-medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787037810_virat-kohli.jpg","blogsy-medium-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787037810_virat-kohli.jpg","blogsy-large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787037810_virat-kohli.jpg","blogsy-wide":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787037810_virat-kohli.jpg"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"admin","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"0","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"18 years of Virat Kohli (AI Genarated Image) On August 18, 2008, a 19-year-old Virat Kohli walked out at Dambulla and scored 12 on his India debut. Eighteen years later, the boy who was once a surprise selection has become one of the defining figures of modern cricket: a batter, captain, standard-setter, survivor and, perhaps [&hellip;]","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36"],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":1,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":6,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787037810_virat-kohli.jpg",400,225,false],"medium":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787037810_virat-kohli.jpg",300,169,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787037810_virat-kohli.jpg",150,84,false]},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/author\/admin"},"magazine_blocks_comment":0,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"<a href=\"#\" class=\"category-link category-link-31\">\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36<\/a>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/13593"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}