Virat Kohli was born on 5 Nov 1988 in Delhi to Prem and Saroj Kohli.He has an elder brother,Vikash and an elder sister,Bhavna.Kohli attended school at Vishal Bharti and Savier Convent.Prem Kohli,Virat's father passed away i Dec 2006 after being bed-ridden for a month due to brain stroke.And as luck would have it,he passed away in the middle of a crucial ranji trophy match against Karnataka.Virat was the overnight batsman for Delhi and he was just taking his first steps in his debut ranji season.Amazingly Virat went ahead and played the match.He had to and scored a brave 90.As his father was ill,Kohli was double minded whether to play or not,but Rajkumar Sharma,(Virat's coach since childhood) who was in Australia then advised him not to let go off a chance since it is so difficult to make it to the team.It was difficult for Virat.He came directly to the funeral,after his knock of 90.
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Virat's mother believes that,he changed a bit after that day.Overnight he become a much more matured person.He took every match seriously.He hated being on the bench.It's as if hinged totally on cricket after that day.
Virat's father,a criminal lawyer,first took the 9 year old to West Delhi Cricket Club after his neighbours suggested that Virat should'nt waste his time in gully cricket and instead join a proffesional club.He make sure that Virat got the best training to reach the upper echelons of Indian cricket.
Virat started his schooling from Vishal Bharthi till he shifted to savier convent in ninth so that it did'nt harm his practice.At the same time,he used to play matches at Sumit Dogra Academy at vasundara enclave near Noida.
Interests
When kohli used to train at West Delhi Cricket Academy,his mother used to cook mutton biriyani and kheer which were his favorite.later he got interested in Japanese sushis.He is so much fond of Aston martin,Ed hardy shirts.in free time he enjoys hearing Punjabi songs.Kohli is one of the few Indian sportsmen to have a strong addiction to tatoos.He has a golden dragon tatoo on forearm and believes it is lucky for him.
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When West Delhi Cricket Academy was created in 1998,Kohli was one of it's first intakes.He was sorted among some young kids around there,he was not pleased at all.He wanted to face the toughest from the word go.He asked his coach to sort among the elder boys.He said "no" to Kohli's request but soon virat n his place among the better ones at the WDCA.Kohli burst into the Delhi ranji team with a a series of big knocks at all levels in age tournaments.He scored 251 against Himachal Pradesh in an U-17 match in 2005,got a call for India U-19 and made a 123 against England and soon he made his ranji debut against Tamilnadu.Kohli first came into the spotlight when he played for Delhi in a ranji trophy match against Karnataka on the day of his father's death.But Kohli showed his will power by choosing to stay and bat,he went on to score 90 runs for his team.This courageous effort from the young lad impressed everyone.Mithun Manhas,the team's captain,remarked that "That is an act of great commitment to the team" and his innings turned out to be crucial.
Kohli captained the victorious Indian team at 2008 U-19 cricket world cup held in Malasya.At that tournament the critics recognized him as a player with authority.his attitude on the field was often threatening the bowlers.He played the innings of the tournament against West Indies-100 of 74 balls,the second a 50 of 24 balls.His overall tally was 237 runs at a strike rate of 97.His strength was his stunning cover drives that he hit which often tortured the opponents.As a captain he also made astute bowling changes bringing himself on in the semifinal against Newzeland.
Kohli was instrumental in India's win of 2009 emerging players tounament in Australia.In the final against South Africa,Kohli scored a century and India went on to win the game by 17 runs.Kohli emerged as the leading run scorer in the tournament aggregatong 398 runs from 7 matches including 2 centuries and 2 fifties.
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